


Under the Changing Stars

by WhatTheWaterTaughtMe



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Early Reveal Thom Rainier, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Illness, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Pre-Dragon Age: Inquisition, SO, Thom Rainier becomes a father, Thom Rainier never becomes a mercenary, To Seek the Truth, Young!Inquisitor, kind of fits 'early reveal Thom Rainier'
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-03-17 11:00:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 156,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18963919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhatTheWaterTaughtMe/pseuds/WhatTheWaterTaughtMe
Summary: Divergence from my Young!Inquisitor fic To Seek the Truth inspired by a conversation with Rainier in Ch 15“There’s this place just north of Markham, this enormous field, if you catch it on the right night, it’s like the Maker opened up the heavens for you, pouring out beautiful light." It was strange to hear her speak of being so very close to the place, it felt like they’d just narrowly missed meeting each other. He almost wondered what might have happened if he’d returned home after his time in the Orlesian Military, like his mother asked of him, instead of listening to Klaus and pursuing mercenary work with his own company. In another life would he have just walked by that field, or would he have seen such glorious light, gone to appreciate it, set a totally different course?A letter from home sends Thom Rainier Markham bound after his retirement from the Orlesian Military. A different fate awaits him in a light-filled field, that takes his life off the trail that ends in a carriage riding headlong into danger, unforgivable crime, and building a lie of a life.In which Thom Rainier adopts Ellie.





	1. Matrons and Martyrs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On his way home for the first time in decades, heavenly light catches Thom's eye, and sets his life on a slightly different course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic exists in the 'To Seek the Truth' 'verse. It was inspired by a conversation Thom and Ellie have in chapter 15, where she talks about this field near Markham she likes to go stargazing in, and he wonders what could have been, if he'd gone home to his mother instead of starting up his own Mercenary crew back in the day--maybe he never would have gotten involved with Gaspard's schemes, maybe he would have met Ellie then, set off on a different course. So. This be that.
> 
> I'm 100% bat crap crazy for making this, but my brain was doin' the 'you gotta write it' dance. I promise this doesn't interfere with the release of the next chapter of To Seek the Truth, it'll be out as soon as possible!
> 
> So, here's two chapters of diverging fic. I own absolutely nothing, in life, ever. Enjoy!

              Summer heat was really starting to get to him, even as it was approaching the cool of the day—nightfall would come soon. That just meant all this sweat slicked to his skin would turn ice cold in the chilled breeze. Why was he here again? It was a nice, even-cool in mid Orlais, and at the very least, he could be in a bar with Klaus, with his friends, enjoying some ale, some music, comradery. His last damn tour out, he could finally…he wasn’t sure. Make something more of himself than just a soldier, just someone who followed orders. Maybe be someone who gave the orders—Klaus seemed to think he could, anyway…Cyril accused him of being bossy enough, but that bastard knew him better in the bedroom than he did on the battlefield. A few days ago, he’d been packing up to just head out on his own and just be with his men, those who served with him, were getting out with him, make their plans for the future. And then that damn letter came.

              _It’s almost Liddy’s day, Thom._ Death-day. Not birthday. For a damn eight-year-old. _I just want to see you. I just want to see my son, please. Come home._

              Mother…

              Things were complicated, to say the least. Hadn’t heard from her in years, not since he went out on his own, started fending for himself. How old had he been, thirteen? Fourteen? Hitting the streets and taking after himself, crashing on friend’s floors and taking up whatever work he could get his hands on. Til he came of age, and Tourney was in the prospects. Worked hard, trained harder, got good enough to throw his hat in the ring at eighteen. That changed his damn life. Best thing that ever happened to him, got him solid ground—money, acclaim, love. He'd squandered the money, but Tourney got him his job, his work for the Orlesian Military serving under Grand Duke Gaspard himself. He’s just got out, just got everything ahead of him, and suddenly mother’s writing, begging to see him, swearing up and down she’s been clean for years, told Dolan to shove off, not entertaining any of the nonsense she’d been about when- she-

              She should have been there when Liddy died.

              Liddy shouldn’t’ve died in the first place. She was _sick._ She needed _healers_. _Potion._ But those cost money. And so does opium. And boyfriends that beat you, beat your children, steal your coin. Bail money, buy offs for protection from gangs that shouldn't have an interest in them in the first place. And the rent’s overdue, and there hasn’t been a thing on the table Thom and Cyril didn’t steal _or_ _beg for_  for months _._ And Liddy doesn’t get to see her ninth birthday. But she does get to struggle for every last breath, take a turn for the worse that sends Thom running for help, only find none, because the only goddamn healer that’ll see her in an emergency has already been called to her bedside. Mother finally pulled her head out from between some bastard’s thighs long enough to do the right thing, far too late. Healer’s assistant says where he’s gone so Thom bolts, is running back, stops, stops for _one second_ to pick another flower, just one more, maybe it’ll help make Liddy feel better, make her _smile._ And he gets home, Mother refused to be in the house the whole while the doctor worked, and she’s gone. Her, her soul, her body, Liddy’s been swept away, cast out because Mother couldn’t take it, couldn’t wait five fucking minutes for Thom to get back, to say goodbye, just the flower in his hand, eight more on the sill.

              _I love you. I miss you. I’m sorry, Thom. If you don’t come I’ll understand. But if you do, you’ll do me far more kindness than I deserve._ Who the hell lives a life where their decisions leave them talking like that? Begging for mercy and compassion they don’t deserve? His mother. He’d never live like that, would rather die than make the mistakes she had.

              Felt like a mistake. Felt like he was a damn fool, hoofing it all this way, back to Maker-cursed Markham, for this Maker-cursed day.

              He’s tired, so tired and still, too many miles out from the city. Three, but it might as well be thirty the way his horse is miserably clopping along. Wasn’t sure why, he was fed, watered, was the heat getting to him? Was he sick? Maybe Thom was being too much of a man-child over this whole thing, been in a mood all week, short, and grouching about everything, his attitude is probably catching. His own miserable depression, depressing the hell out of his horse.

              There was this field*, stank to high heaven when it was full of druffalo, but it was too hot for them to be grazing in it this time of year. That meant maybe he and his horse could stop in on the stream, just on the other side from the road, clean up, cool off, get some relief and hydrate. Probably a good idea since he’s pretty sure no matter what happens when he gets to Markham, he’s drinking himself into a stupor. Going in hydrated might take the edge off his hangover come morning…afternoon, whenever.

              But the sun’s been set a while now, and there’s so much light out he’s not sure what’s going on. Was he…was he even in the right place? He could see familiar landmarks, the barest shape of Markham’s towering buildings in the distance. This should be it, but it…it can’t be, could it?

              Light, beautiful, brilliant light in all different shades and colors is iridescent against the night sky. And that sky is full of _stars_ , the very kind that can take your breath away and you’d thank it, even if it never gave it back.

              His horse came to a stand still at the edge of the field and Thom just barely perceived himself slipping out of the saddle, walking out to just…he’d been looking to bathe in the stream, but this? He’d settle just fine with bathing in such glorious light was- was anyone else seeing this? It was incredible, how- how had he never- surely it’d never done this before. How could he not have known? Just a half hour’s ride from his childhood home, there was something this beautiful, this pure?

              “Holy Maker,” Thom breathed as he came to stand in the midst of the field.

              And then he heard a startled gasp.

              He whipped about to find it’s source, something, someone, was sitting up, they’d just been laying in the tall grass, watching the sky he supposed…he…he thought they were sitting up at least. Their uh, head didn’t even come up higher than the field.

              But large startled eyes stared up at him, brilliant green reflecting the heavens, scared and uncertain, staring at him like they were waiting for him to react somehow, to having found them. Him, he supposed…or her? Oh Maker, it was just a kid, a small, tiny little kid just out here in the middle of nowhere like this. Was she the farmer’s kid? Or grandkid probably…probably not. Druffalo farmer this way, Whitacre, he and his were uh, no darker than Thom. Unless someone, somewhere broke that pattern, this dusky skinned child didn’t belong to them. But her hair…her skin, it uh…Liddy and him hadn’t exactly shared a father. She’d been darker than Thom, especially…well, when she was real little, could go out and play in the sun, she’d brown up so dark he had to constantly defend his claim as her older sibling, people doubted it so. Her hair’d been thicker, curled like mad and this girl, where Liddy’s hair had been as raven as Thom’s, this girl’s hair was _wild_ red, cut short, but it poofed out around her head in a great mass that was almost eerily familiar.

              “Uhh, hey, hey it’s okay—you’re just out here lookin’ at the stars, right?” he asked, crouching to be more level with her, hands splayed in the air before him and she looks at them hard, like she’s expecting something to come from them for a moment before she looks him in the eye again, Maker, she was trembling. He tried to go for soothing, “Me too. Brilliant, aren't they? I don’t mean you any harm, I didn’t even see you out here. I’m Thom. What’s your name?”

              She’s just staring at him, bewildered for a minute, before asking uncertainly, “N-name?”…was that a Marcher accent? That definitely wasn’t a Marcher accent, none he’d heard anyway. Just where the hell was she from? Where were her parents?

              “Yeah sweetheart, your name?” he asked, tapping his chest, “Thom Rainier,” and then he pointed to her.

              “E- Ellie.”

              That was more in Marcher territory. What the hell?

              “Ellie, that’s a very pretty name. Can you tell me why you’re out here on your own.”

              She just shakes her head at that, ‘no’.

              “O-okay. Where are your parents? Did you get separated, are you lost?”

              She thinks on it a moment, seems like she’s processing something, “No.”

              “I commend you not wanting to talk to strangers, that’s smart, but sweetheart if you’re lost, you need help. If you’re frightened I can give you direction to the farmer’s house—kindly old man, and he’s got the sweetest wife around. They’d be more than willing to help you find your parents, or I could find you a guardsman to hel-“

              _“No!”_ she shrieks, startled at that, “No no no no no—no guards, n-no parents. I- que- orale,” she breathes like it’s a curse or something. “Ellie. Just me. No parents. I’m…” that… oh shit was that Antivan? Bloke he served with in the military was a former Crow, but fuck him if he knew anything other than filth in the language.

              Okay, so, language barrier. She seemed to be okay-ish with his speech, so he tried to help, “You’re not lost?” she shook her head, “No parents, not lost, are you…do you not _have_ parents?”

              She actually _brightened_ at that, snapping as she pointed to him, “Si! Si! No padres! P-parents. Sorry. Antivan es mi lengua maternal. I’m still learning Trade,” she offered shyly.

              “Have you got any family?” he asked, and she shook her head, “Friends?”

              “Ava.”

              Oh thank the Maker, “Ava—she an adult? Er, like me?”

              She seemed to consider that, “Older.”

              _“She’s_ older?” and when she nodded, he breathed a sigh of relief, okay, an actual adult knew this kid, thank the Maker. “Where is she?”

              The girl just looks up at the sky, squinted, and then reached an arm out behind her to point. “Tantervale, go around the east side, avoid the guard posts, and then south,” she recited, like she’d been made to remember it. Bloody…bloody Tantervale, eh? That was on the other ass end of the continent, so cool. Was she confused?

              “Ellie, I wasn’t asking where she _lives_ —I’m asking where she _is_. Did she leave you here while she went into town? Markham?”

              “No. She’s at her home. I’m here.”

              He let out a frustrated sigh, “And what are you doing here?”

              “Being alive?”

              Okay. “How old are you, sweetheart?”

              She hummed a bit, “It is 9:34?” she asked, he nodded, and she smiled, “I’m…” she consulted her fingers carefully before thrusting her hands up toward him with the correct number of digits poking up, “eight!” Oh Maker, “You?”

              Him? “I’m thirty,” he said, and her eyes grew big in her head,

              “Que?!” she squeaked in surprise, and he chuckled.

              “I am, honest.”

              She reached out and pressed an index finger against his cheek as if that would verify his age and then nodded. “Okay. Ava’s a hundreds.” A hundreds?

              “Well then, she certainly is older than me,” he supposed…and a hundreds of miles out of reach. So what in the hell was he supposed to do? She- she couldn’t just stay out here, could she? “Ellie, are you staying with anyone?”

              “The Maker—He’s making the sky so pretty!” she enthused. “So I’m sitting with Him. Sleep. There is a city, I can find food,” she was positive.

              She…oh shit, she was just- she was eight. And- and homeless? And fending for herself?

              Well. Not for herself. Not tonight, anyway. Maker help him.

              “Well sweetheart, I live in that city, or at least I did a long time ago. I have a room I’m staying in,” or he'd been planning to get one when he arrived at least, no way in hell was he going near his old place unless…until- mother could wait there was an actual orphan situation happening in front of him! “The Maker is um, making the sky very pretty, but He’s also going to make the air very very cold tonight. I wouldn’t want you to get sick, catch cold. You can come with me, if you want. For tonight, anyway.” He’d…shit, he’d ask around tomorrow, see what could be done. Markham was lousy with orphanages…not…not that they were worth much. Shitty as their home situation had been, Thom’d fought tooth and nail to stay out of the system, Liddy’d have never made it as long as she had if they’d been taken, and then he sure as hell hadn’t been going in for himself later. Could…could he really put this girl into the same system he balked at? Maybe things were different now, time passed, things changed, Mother was claiming miraculous healing, so maybe some reform had been brought to other areas of Markham as well.

              She was staring up at him, thinking, and then she was very quiet, closed her eyes, head hanging a bit…was she praying? Seemed like she consulted _something_ because the next minute, she looked to him and grinned a big- oh toothy and toothless, missing two little teeth just off to the right of her two front teeth, a gap to the left in her lower teeth, “Okay!”

              “Okay,” he agreed, nodding. And then…well it wasn’t too cold, just yet, and she’d seemed pretty struck by the stars, thought the Maker was…well, he supposed He was, making them do whatever it was they were doing just now. “We’ll watch the Maker play with the sky a bit longer, shall we?”

              He- he was going to ignore the stutter in his chest when she looked so very happy at that. “Gracias!” she giggled, smiling so big and bouncing in place a bit, hair swaying with the motion. She patted the space beside her, “Ven aqui!”

              So uh, he ven aqui’d or whatever. Sat on down alongside her, laid back, and looked up at the changing stars.

 

* * *

 

              It was nearly midnight, when he and Ellie made the final stretch into town. It’d been a time getting her onto his horse—Nathan, she’d wanted to know his name first and foremost. She hadn’t been afraid so much as she’d been in love, she thought the raven steed was just ‘muy guapo! So beautiful!’ and he’d held her up so she could pet the beast’s face, ended up peppering it with little kisses while she thanked the horse. For letting her along for the ride, he supposed, she worried about how much Nathan had to carry—between Thom’s packs, and the man himself, adding her and her…painfully empty little sack she was carrying around. She was painfully little too, Maker, he’d almost dropped her he’d been so, just- just- appalled! She’d looked tiny in the field, but he’d supposed that sorted, she was just a little kid, but she was practically the skeleton of a little kid, morbid as that sounded. So light, and when he’d held her up he felt the ridges between her ribs, made his guts twist up. She was starving, had to be, he knew what that was like better than anyone. And she certainly wasn’t going to be doing that under his roof, temporary or otherwise.

              He quietly asked her when last she ate, and she just shrugged. Informed him she couldn’t remember, no weight to it, it was just a fact, and it didn’t seem to bother her…in a way that said this was normal, normal to the extent she didn’t know much else, so she didn’t have anything to compare the experience to, to tell her just how horrible it was. He’d wanted to ask her more, but uh, few seconds of her seated secure in the saddle before him, Maker where had she come from? She was exhausted, she’d started humming a children’s Chantry hymn and drifted off and boom, out like a light.

              First place he stopped…shit, he didn’t know what to do—she needed to eat, but he didn’t want to put a total shock to her system, make her sick because he fed her something her stomach couldn’t handle after so long of not working to digest food. And she was so small, and- he needed something, help. So he followed the main road, made his way to the nearest Healer’s, someone was burning the midnight oil it looked like, hopefully they could help. He…this time, he had the money, and it was his and no one was taking it.

              Didn’t recognize the bloke, it wasn’t anyone he’d seen coming up, a nice younger fellow that promised up and down he really was the Healer, had inherited his practice from his father who was retired, but lived just down the street—he’d fetch him if Thom was going to demand a more experienced Healer, but he’d experience enough it seemed. It felt…he didn’t much like it, having to let her go, lay her down on the little cot in the Healer’s office, but she needed examined he thought.

              “Alright, let’s see here…” the Healer was quiet once he plugged his ears with some sort of instrument, the other end of it he pressed against her chest to listen through the thin, fraying material of Ellie’s tunic. She couldn't just walk around like that, she didn't even have any shoes. “Well, she’s got a good thing going with her heart…lungs sound like she’s just getting over something, has she been sick lately?”

              “I uh, I don’t know, I only just-“ met her, but that probably would not sound very above-board. He’d never even dream of hurting a child, but there were many who would, “took her in,” he opted for.

              “Oh, well congratulations,” he offered for whatever reason. “If she’s got a persisting cough or starts up a fever, feel free to bring her on back in, it just sounds like chest congestion is clearing up,” he said, before moving on to checking her pulse, “Yup, vitals are all good…she doesn’t look like she’ll stack up to any decent percentials for her age.”

              “Percentials?”

              “Ranges for growth, the healthy levels all children should be growing at. She’s eight, you said?”

              “Y-yes ser,” Thom confirmed. “She uh, I think she was starving, before. S’why I brought her here first, I didn’t want to risk making her sick.”

              Healer grinned warmly at that, “Yeah, new to it, huh? No worries, you did the right thing—if she hasn’t eaten in a long while, solid food will only hurt the situation. I’ll warm up some broth, there’s nutritive potion she can take with it if she holds it down well, and we should make sure she’s properly hydrated. Did she pass out, or did she just fall asleep?”

              …oh shit, oh hell _had_ she passed out? He’d just thought she was tired, but-

              She woke with a big yawn, squinting up at him, and offering a quiet, “Hola, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to get sleepy.”

              “Hablas Antivan, mija?” the Healer asked at her accent.

              “Si,” she offered shyly, sitting up. “Quien eres tu?”

              “Healer Richard. Eres Ellie, si? Es eso corto para algo?”

              She shook her head, “No, solo Ellie.” Wasn't sure what that meant, but solo Ellie sounded about right.

              “You speak Trade, I hope? Understand it, at least?”

              “Si! Yes, sorry,” she apologized at the blunder.

              “You don’t have to apologize—you’re only eight and handling two different languages at once,” Thom defended, almost resting a hand on Ellie’s shoulder- oh he, he pulled back almost immediately when she flinched, and then she blushed, looking at him like she might apologize but, “You’re doing fine. I’m here to help you, you need it, just say the word.”

              She nodded. “Why are we here, Healer Richard?”

              “Well, you’ve been poorly recently, and you haven’t eaten in quite some time, your father was worried about you and brought you to me for some help. How does chicken broth sound?”

              “Father?” Ellie questioned, confused, oh bloody hell he- he wasn’t-

              “’m just Thom,” he offered them both.

              Healer nodded, “Everyone starts out someplace a little bit different, you gotta do what suits you two best huh?” he looked to Ellie, “So, broth?”

              The girl looked to Thom who smiled encouragingly and she offered the shyest nod, blushing, with a quiet little, “Yes please,” as she fidgeted with the end of her sleeve.

              “I’ll go warm some up, you just sit tight with your Thom, okay?”

              “Okay,” she agreed. She worried her lip as he left and looked up to Thom, “I’m- I’m really sorry, I didn’t think you would…er, this would be…I don’t want to be a pr-problem,” she struggled with the words, but got it out.

              “Well then, it’s a good thing for you, you aren’t one. A problem, that is. It um…” Thom struggled, but not for lack of familiarity with Trade. “It’s not healthy, sweetheart, to go so long without eating. Who feeds you?”

              “Me,” she shrugged. “Ava when I am with her.”

              “Is there some reason you aren’t able to stay with her?” Thom wondered.

              Ellie bit her lip again, turning red as she looked away, hands fidgeting nervously. “It- um. It isn’t safe,” she said. “I can’t stay too long. I can’t um…” she looked to him, like she was making sure he understood that, “I can’t stay anywhere too long.”

              …”Well- why not?”

              She shrugged. “It just isn’t safe. It’ll be sad if you know. I don’t want you to be sad, you’re nice.”

              He opened his mouth to just- he wasn’t sure what, he wasn’t even sure where to begin asking questions of this girl.

              So he didn’t, he just sat quietly, and watched with this damn…it felt stupid, the damn smile on his face as he saw her get some much needed nutrients. She took careful sips of broth, managed to down it like a champ and she promised it didn’t upset her tummy any. Potion came next, concentrations of vitamins that wouldn’t tax her body to absorb, but the Healer did remind them of the late hour and that she would need proper sleep.

              “Do you need anything else, Ellie? Any other complaints? Your cold sounds like it’s clearing up, does anything hurt?” the Healer asked.

              “Cold?” she asked.

              “You probably felt congested, like you had trouble breathing? Tired, runny nose, stuffy head, coughing,” the Healer listed off.

              She just nodded at that and said, “I’m fine. Um. E-except,” Maker the child looked embarrassed. “M-my back hurts.” Her back? Had he held her too roughly or set too harsh a pace with Nathan? “I-i-it isn’t a b-big proble-“ she was already backtracking.

              “Sweetheart, if it’s hurting you, of course it’s a problem," Thom breathed, "Let the Healer take a look, alright? Are you okay with that?” he checked.

              She nodded, quiet and she turned to sit on the cot with her back to them, startling ever so slightly when the Healer began raising up her shir-

              He could never dream of hurting a child, but he could certainly kill a man. Thom Rainier could murder someone, murder them dead—he hadn’t been too rough with this girl, someone- someone had- there was a clear outline of a _boot print_ purpling and blacking on the right side of her back, just below her shoulder blade. It had the Healer looking at Thom for all of a second, assessing, weighing in his mind the chances Thom would have been the one to put that on this girl and then bring her here and encourage her to seek help for it.

              Healer Richard blew out a breath and then, calmly, “Okay sweetheart, I have something that will help that. Some nice Elf-Root cream will make it feel all better, I promise.”

              “Gracias,” she offered quietly.

              “De nada,” the Healer said. “I’m gonna go grab it, Thom’s going to come with me a minute, okay?”

              Her arms were resting on her knees and she put her head down against them, “Okay.”

              “But don’t worry mija, we’ll be right back and in the meantime,” he stepped over to the bookcase on the wall and pulled a warm brown stuffed bear off a shelf, arm craning around her to put the thing in front of her so she could see when she peaked up to check what was happening. _“This_ , is my most trusted friend Mister Russel. Say ‘hola’ to Senorita Ellie, Russel,” he commanded the thing, offering in a growly, silly voice, “Hola!” that sent the girl giggling a bit, oh Maker that was a sweet sound.

              “Hola Senor Russel,” she greeted the bear shyly, and when it seemed alright, she took the offered bear and held it close.

              “You two get to know each other, okay? He’ll watch out for you while we go get your medicine,” the Healer assured, gesturing for Thom to follow him.

              He led him deeper into the house, into a pantry that made Thom’s nose itch from all the fresh, herbal smells, medicinal plants hanging all around, jars upon jars of salve and bottles of potion lining the shelves.

              “You uh, only just took her in? Local orphanage?” he asked Thom and before he could even begin formulating an answer to that, the man scoffed, “Figures. I swear. Every other week a kid turns up injured or dead from one of those places. You’re lucky she got out when she did—you know your rights, yeah? You’ve been given full custody?”

              “I- I’m not sure,” Thom offered weakly. He’d been planning to start with the orphanages. But uh, nothing had changed much on that front, had it? Damn it.

              “Well for her sake, you better get sure.”

              “No where’s safe for kids like her, is it?” Thom asked…like a statement, conversational, but he was really, really asking. He couldn’t- he couldn’t possibly take in a child.

              “Chantry’s the only place that treats them right—regular meals, education, no beatings or anything just lots of Chant assignments or something to pay ‘penance’ for bad behavior. Worst I’ve ever seen is a Chantry Mother smacking a kid good with a ruler to the hand for stealing.”

              Chantry…the Chantry—of course! Why hadn’t he thought of that sooner? Took all of two seconds meeting her and she was offering up poetics about the Maker making the sky so beautiful, she found some peace in her faith, the Chantry’d suit her just fine! The only thing Ellie’d be stealing is Chantry Mothers’ hearts. Pretty sure no matter how this turned out, she was walking away with his. Damn him, this girl.

              Healer Richard was overall kind, and helpful—enough so he took Ellie’s being tentative with touch into consideration, tied an applicator to Mister Russel’s paw and as far as the girl was concerned, the bear was responsible for Elf Root cream being rubbed into her back, sinking into her bruise and already beginning to clear it away, and not the Healer maneuvering said paw. The Healer handed off a jar of the stuff to Thom for if she needed it later, and a few more vials of nutritive potion, a list of instructions for her care, and the bill…huh. Wasn’t uh, too bad. He was just going to ignore the weird feeling that kept creeping up on him, every turn with being mistaken for her ‘father’, and uh, the fact the Healer wrote off a percentage of the bill in light of his ‘new parent discount’. And Healer Richard took one look at Ellie holding the stuffed bear up to him to return him, and said, “You know what? I think he’s better off with you right now. Don’t let this get around,” he shared conspiratorially, “but Russel told me, you’re his favorite patient we’ve ever had.”

              “Really?” Ellie asked, bewildered.

              “Really,” the Healer promised.

              Ellie was quiet as they left the Healers, stepping out onto the porch and taking in the sight of the city street. “Where’s Mister Nathan?” she asked.

              “Sleeping soundly in the stables I suspect,” for some reason that had her giggling shyly, face buried in the crook of her new bear friend’s neck. “What’s so funny?” he asked jovially.

              “That was so much ssss sounds!” she explained, giddy over it.

              He found himself chuckling warmly at that, “It was,” he agreed, looking both ways into the street. It was dark, late, and just, you should always be safe, “Ellie, would you mind at all, holding my hand?”

              She looked up at him, considering, and then, “Okay,” she nodded, offering up her free hand. Maker, it was just, how did she navigate the world with such small hands? It was just tiny, enveloped in his own. He had to slow down, he realized, or she had to jog a bit to keep up with him, she had to be tired, he’d carry her if he thought she’d be okay with it. As it stood, they made their way to the inn and tavern Cyril recommended once when he tried convincing Thom to come back with him for a visit—go to see his parents, but uh, Thom hadn’t wanted to risk mother coming around or running into her, so. He was using the recommendation now, at least. He’d prefer a steady place he could stay while he was here, an excuse not to let mother guilt him into staying with her…mother, he wasn’t entirely sure how to even touch on that with Ellie around, he hardly wanted _her_ influence around the girl.

              Barkeep was the owner, grouse older woman named Dana that supposed with ‘his kid’ tagging along being little enough she’d not charge him extra, but he was to keep an eye on her himself. Side-eyeing Thom for keeping the child up at all hours he supposed…though her clothing really was in tatters. He wasn’t even sure how to get her into the Chantry, and she needed things badly.

              “Name?” Dana asked as she pulled out a ledger, tucking the money he’d given up front away under the counter.

              “Thom Rainier.”

              Her hand stilled at that. “Rainier?” she recognized him from Tourney then- “The Captain?”

              …or the military. “Yes ma’am.”

              “Maggie’s Thom?”

              Oh. He cleared his throat. Maker. Shit. “Yeah. Margret Rainier’s my mother but-“

              “Well hell,” the woman sighed, passing him back his money. “I can’t charge Maggie’s kid, this place would’ve shut down years ago if it wasn’t for her. She’s always welcome to crash here, and so are you. Damn proud of you, always going on bragging about your work in the military—I still have the newspaper clipping from your victory at the Grand Tourney, been years but she’d kill me if I took it down. That woman went around buying up every copy she could get her hands on and making them rain the streets—keeps two copies framed, one for home, one for the office.”

              ….none of those words could even remotely be related to his mother. Spending wild amounts of money on something to dote on her son…helping someone run a business, having an _office?_ Since when did Maggie Rainier _work,_ let alone doing something that meant having a place of business? This was quite literally the first time he’d ever been recognized as her son, and it wasn’t a guardsman hunting him down to come bail her out of prison or some seedy bloke looking for money she owed or a uh, something more lewd. Had to start taking odd jobs, mercenary work in the first place because he couldn’t get out from under her shadow, anyone he met, if they knew he came from her, immediately painted him the same brush.

              “She’s never mentioned you had a kid, and she hasn’t been around to scream in excitement about being a grandmother, this a uh, new development?”

              “You could say that—she isn’t a grandmother,” she was barely a mother, “Just watching her for  a bit.”

              He felt strange, not paying, especially on account of some strange rapport mother had with this woman. He was worried she might realize he’s in town before he works up the nerve to go see her, but he sure as hell wasn’t dragging Ellie back out into the night. They’d find someplace new tomorrow night, and in the meantime he just said he’d rather Maggie not know he was in, that he was planning on surprising her which was rather the understatement considering the woman likely thought he’d never darken her doorstep again. Dana promised mother’d not hear it from her. So, they followed her up the stairs which Ellie took one at a time, squeezing Thom’s hand all the way up, and then they settled into the little room at the end of the hall. The woman said she’d be back with something warm to help send them off.

              Thom busied himself with getting the fireplace going, told Ellie to go ahead and take a seat while they waited for their drinks. This is certainly not how he saw his evening ending. He’d been planning on drinking himself to sleep, but that definitely wasn’t in the cards anymore. He set about warming the room a bit, clear the drafty chill. Ellie was sitting on the chair by the fireplace, legs swinging, Russel in her lap facing her as she made idle play.

              “Saying anything interesting?” Thom asked as he sat on the floor before her.

              She smiled and shrugged. “He’s nice. I…I don’t think I can keep him safe—would you take care of him when I leave?” she wondered tentatively.

              “Sure,” he supposed, “but lets table talk of you leaving for now.”

              “Table it?” she asked.

              Ahh. Well, he was speaking to an eight-year-old. “We’ll talk about it later,” he explained.

              “At a table?”

              He chuckled warmly, “Sure thing sweetheart.”

              “You have a mami?” she asked him curiously.

              “I do. Do you?” he wondered carefully, he still wasn’t clear when ‘no parents’ started for her, had they abandoned her, or were they dead?

              She shook her head. “No parents.”

              “Ever?”

              “Ever. Always just me.”

              “It can’t have always just been you your entire life, babies can’t really feed or tend to themselves,” he said.

              “No parents place.”

              She’d struggled around explaining she was an orphan before, maybe she didn’t know the word in Trade. “Orphanage?”

              “You’re from Antiva?”

              She blanched at that, hugging Russel to herself as she nodded. “Si.”

              “How’d you end up in the Free Marches?”

              “Wagon,” she said. “Um, there’s more Elf Root cream?”

              Oh, “Does your back still hurt?” he worried.

              “It feels lots better,” she assured nervously, fidgeting with her sleeves.

              “You’re hurt other places?” he prompted. Gut felt like it dropped to the floor when she nodded. “Do you need any help?” She shook her head, so he reached into his pack to fetch the jar for her, handing it off. Though she struggled with the lid bigger around than her hand and she grinned sheepishly.

              “I might need help,” she supposed. He should’ve thought of it anyway, he uncapped the jar for her and she was red faced as she rolled up a sleeve, tiny finger swabbing up a dot of translucent cream to rub into the rings of bruises wrapped around her wrist like a hand, spots of bruising further up—she seemed embarrassed so he gave her some privacy, turned his back, went to the window to make sure it was locked up secure, check out any traffic in the street. Quiet out, few people, a group of men heading from one bar to the other but all in all, it was a quiet street.

              “I’m done,” she quietly announced. He joined her, recapping the jar and tucking it away, her shirt was sticking to her skin a little on her chest, few different places on her stomach where she’d plied cream, hell. Her hands were messy from the cream—there was a washbasin full of water so he wet a washing cloth and sat back down before her, offering his hand and she gave him hers, let him clean them up.

              “Ellie…can you tell me how you got hurt?” all that got him was a shrug. “Sweetheart, someone hurt you—if you’re scared, I promise I’ll protect you, but I can only do that if I know who to look out for, okay?” he tried.

              “They’re far away.”

              Far away? Oh- oh Maker, “Ellie, did the people from your orphanage do this to you?”

              She stared at him wide-eyed like she was absolutely shocked he’d guessed such a thing, “How did you- oh. Oh. Not this,” she said. Not- what in the bloody hell, she’d been hurt like this _before?_ In Antiva? And now…what, more recently, here? “It was my fault,” she said.

              “It isn’t your fault someone hurt you.”

              She shrugged. “I stayed too long.” So that called for laying hands on her?! Kicking or- or _stomping_ on her it’d looked like.

              “So you…you ran away from an orphanage in Antiva because they were hurting you?”

              Oh she looked like she might cry. “No. They kicked me out.”

              “Kicked you out? Why?” What in heavens name could inspire someone to cast their girl from their home?

              She hopped out of the chair putting Russel in its seat before moving to walk around Thom who reached out and took hold of her hand to stop her before she reached the door, “I shouldn’t stay-“

              “Ellie-“

              _“I can’t tell you!”_ she insisted, loudest he’d heard her speak, she’d shouted, tears spilling down her face as she met his gaze, her every expression determined and grim. “I can’t. I’ll just go.”

              Oh Maker, no, “If you don’t tell me, you can stay?”

              She stared at him a moment, thinking it over. “Yes.”

              “Then I won’t ask again,” not tonight, anyway. “Forget I said anything, Ellie. Please, sit back down. Russel’d miss you if you just up and left.”

              “…kay,” she agreed, resuming her seat with the bear in her lap.

              Dana ended up bringing them tea, warm milk for Ellie. While the girl thanked her sweetly, she looked at the milk for a bit rather than drinking it.

              “Do you not like milk?” he wondered.

              “Oh gosh, milk’s yummy,” she said, “it just might hurt my tummy right now. It’s hard to um…” she seemed to be searching for a word.

              “Digest?”

              “Uh-huh.”

              Tea smelled like cinnamon, so. No whisky for Thom Rainier tonight—he was getting sent off with a mug of warm milk…pleased to see the little happy wriggle cinnamon got out of the girl when she took her first sip of tea, it was apparently yummy too.

              He lent her use of his nightshirt, he certainly wasn’t changing with a little girl around, and he wasn’t too keen on leaving her alone. She changed in the corner of the room while he checked all the windows, secured the door, made sure the fire was out. He grabbed one of the pillows and threw it onto the floor and was just undoing the covers on the bed for her, but when he turned back around she was already seated on the floor with Russel, Maker his shirt swallowed her right up. It was in better shape than her own clothing, she could wear it until they got her some proper clothing he figured but uh, what was she doing? She laid Russel down with his head on the pillow before scooting her bottom so she could lay back, oh-

              “That’s for me. Bed’s for you, come on,” he said, patting the mattress.

              “Ah si?” she questioned, it came off like ‘really?’.

              “Of course,” he said. So she took up the bear and climbed up into the bed, it was a bit high for her, he was a little worried she’d roll out of it…he’d use his pack as a pillow, leave the other one on the floor at her bedside just in case.

              “Gracias,” she thanked him timidly as she settled in, back against the pillow.

              “Do you need anything?” he wondered, “Bedtime story? A song?”

              “I’m okay,” she said, laying down proper, Russel tucked against her side.

              “Alright,” he said, pulling the covers up over her, she snuggled in, drowsy. “Have sweet dreams, Ellie-girl.”

              It- he wasn’t- he turned out the oil lamp on the nightstand and quickly laid down, forgetting his pack, he didn’t need it, just scooted the pillow over in case she did have a fall and laid on his side, back to her. He’d not- he hadn’t even thought to say anything like that, it just fell from his lips, ‘Ellie-girl’, with an all too familiar cadence, something that winded him, left him feeling almost ill, eyes burning. His evening had gotten far more complicated than drowning out his woes of facing his mother. Maker.

              “Mister Thom?” Ellie’s voice squeaked out into the dark.

              “Yeah hun?” he asked back.

              “Um. A song would be nice…” she allowed. Oh. Was she afraid of the dark? He’d turned the light out without any warning and he’d be scared if he was her.

              Oh hell, he mostly had the sort of songs you sang while in the throws of drunkenness, _not_ the sort of thing you sang to a little girl. First age appropriate song he could think of would work just fine he supposed, “The Maker loves me this I know, for the Chantry tells me so…” he offered up waveringly, he didn’t exactly have the gift of the bard.

              Oh but it was sweet when Ellie joined him, “…little ones to Him belong, they are weak but He is strong. Yes the Maker loves me, yes the Maker loves me, yes the Maker loves me, the Chantry tells me so.”

              Hopefully come morning, the Chantry would be the answer he was looking for. 

 

* * *

 

              He woke to sunlight breaking through the windowpane, _Maker_ that was bright, right in his damn eyes. But he supposed it was time to get up then, he needed…hell, he needed lots of things. Ellie needed to eat, and then he’d have to see about getting her properly clothed, ask around, figure out how to get her safely in the custody of the Chantry-

              She was gone. Oh shit shit shit- she wasn’t in the bed and it took less than a second to assess she wasn’t anywhere else in the room, save maybe under? Dropped to his knees hard to check but no, she was gone, the door was wide open, oh _hell!_

              He bolted down the hall and pounded down the stairs at top speed-

              “Buenos dias, Mister Thom!” she greeted. Seated at the bar. Waving a little fork she had in her fist at him, sleeves of the shirt he lent her rolled up and safety pinned so they wouldn’t slop in the bowl of fruit she was digging into after waving to him. Russel was seated on the stool to her left, a smaller, empty bowl before him, and a tankard. Dana was behind the counter wiping it down and looking to him,

              “In a hurry?” she asked.

              He blew out a breath, relieved and, “I- good morning sweetheart,” he offered the girl before looking to the woman dishing up oatmeal a bowl. “I woke up and she was gone,” he said a bit pointedly. Maker, she’d given him a damn heart attack.

              “It’s ten in the morning, and she was awake when I checked in, hungry, and you were snoring away.”

              “I locked the door.”

              “Well good golly gosh, I wonder how a woman like me has the keys to this place? Oh wait,” she sniped, setting the bowl of oatmeal down firmly in the space on Ellie’s other side. “You’re welcome.”

              “Thank you, I am grateful,” he promised, just, tetchy. Little lightheaded—that’d ruddy terrified him. He wasn’t sure how every single horrible thing in the world could pass through one’s mind in a single instant, but when he saw the empty bed it _had._ Wait, “I’ll be right back,” he said before dashing back up the stairs. Potion—she should take her potion now that she’s eating, that’d been in the instructions Richard gave him.

              Ellie smiled up at him when he took a seat alongside her, “Miss Dana made me fruit!”

              “I can see that,” he said, returning her smile, “did you thank her?”

              “Uh-huh!” she nodded eagerly before stabbing another piece of melon to munch on.

              “Well, this little cutie has to be careful what she eats,” Dana said, tweaking the girl’s nose, startled her just a bit, but she also giggled at the affection so that was nice. “Saw you had things from Richard’s last night, figured I should make sure I didn’t offer something she couldn’t eat,” she said to Thom before looking to Ellie, "You want more water, baby girl?”

              “Yes please!”

              “On it. Mister Thom need anything to drink?” Dana checked.

              “Water’s fine, thank you,” he said, digging into his oatmeal. Huh, damn good. He felt badly she wasn’t going to let him pay… “My mother, you said this place would have closed down without her? What exactly does she do?” she…oh hell she didn’t work here or something, did she? He hadn’t considered that last night.

              Dana regarded him with some surprise that he wasn’t in the know. “Uh…she’s my accountant, has been since my husband passed and I’ve been running the place for myself. Got her own firm up on Park Street. You know, “Saving your money for Rainier days”?” no…no he did not. Was this woman confused? His mother couldn’t save a copper if her life depended on it. She sure as hell couldn’t when Liddy’s had. “Hell of a walk from her home downtown, s’why she crashes here sometimes when she works late hours, I insisted. It’s crazy she still lives down there but she refuses to move, and I didn’t want her risking just getting home in the middle of the night when who knows what is out there, you know? Bad enough she lives alone.”

              Thom snorted, alone huh? “I’m sure her boyfriends offer plenty of company.”

              “…boyfriends?” Dana questioned. “I’m sorry, you’re Thom, right? Thom Rainier? Champion of the Grand Tourney? Cause it sounds like we’re talking about two totally different Maggie Rainiers,”…were…were they? “I’ve been trying to set her up for years now and she won’t bite.”

              “What’s a Grand Tourney?” Ellie asked curiously as she speared another piece of fruit.

              …

              Well. She _was_ only eight. And Antivan. But _still._

              Thom filled her in on the highlights of what Tourney was, and it was the sweetest bit of pride he felt swelling in his chest when she looked so very impressed that he’d been declared a Champion of such a thing.

              And then she paled, turned almost _white_ which was rather the feat, fork clattering against the bar top, eyes darting to the tavern’s front door before she ducked down under the counter a split second before it swung open.

              Heavy boots clunked against the hardwood as two fully armored Templars entered the Tavern, “You serving at this hour, wench?”

              Dana pushed off from the counter, “Guests that have stayed the night, yes. No liquor ‘til afternoon, gentlemen. Nothing for you here.”

              “Shame, could use a drink comin’ off the night shift,” the other Templar supposed, “Come on, Rivin’s’ll be serving,” he said clapping his friend on the shoulder and Thom realized he’d been holding his breath the entire time once they took their leave. Just- Maker, what in the hell?

              He got off his stool and crouched down, Ellie’s face was buried against her knees, arms wrapped around them as she just _shook,_ the girl was trembling, “Sweetheart? It’s okay, it was just Templars. They weren’t here to hurt you.” He supposed their armor could be scary if you were very little, and Antiva didn’t have much in the way of Templars, maybe she’d never seen them before?

              “Are they gone?” she asked quietly.

              “Yeah honey, they’re gone.”

              “My Jim was afraid of Templars too, when he was a little thing, after he saw them take one of our neighbors older boys off to the Circle,” Dana said, as Thom helped Ellie back into her seat. “You’re okay sweetie, they’re only after Mages. You’re just a bit too little yet for that to be an issue huh?” she asked cheerily, “I’ll get you some more water hon.”

              Ellie was very quiet, nodding as the woman left them to refill her pitcher at the pump.

              “Hey, it’s okay,” Thom said soothingly, “You’re safe.”

              She swallowed, pulling Russel from his seat to hug him against her chest, nodding. She didn’t eat another bite, but she’d eaten well enough he supposed, it was an awful lot of food for one little girl and she shouldn’t over do it. He did get her to drink her potion, every last drop, and another mug of water.

              She was quiet as he retrieved his pack, and he thanked Dana for her service but they’d be on their way. The Barkeep did lend them some ribbon she had laying around to put up decorations when there were celebratory seasons, white one to cinch the waist of the nightshirt Ellie was in, the thing dragged the floor otherwise, when she walked. Almost looked like a dress now, cute. She put Russel in her own little pack, he’d been right, it was empty, and the bear fit perfect, head peeking out so he could ‘see’ as she toted him on her back.

              “Enjoy your visit,” Dana said, “bye-bye Ellie,” she waved.

              “Bye-bye Miss Dana,” she said quietly, “Thank you.”

              She let Thom take her hand again, this time it was truly necessary, the streets were busy this time of day. He wasn’t entirely sure where he should go. It was Sunday and he couldn’t imagine…Maker he couldn’t imagine his mother working _period_ but especially not on a natural day off…that wasn’t entirely fair, most places were closed. So, he headed further uptown, hopefully she’d not be around, and he could find somewhere to get Ellie something to wear. Most of the shops were closed, but a few places resumed business once Chantry let out. Damn, he almost regretted sleeping in—taking Ellie for a service would’ve been nice, maybe a good step in the right direction to introducing her to the right people, but getting her something appropriate to wear might be better, make for better introductions ne-

              His brain almost said next week, like he’d just keep her until the next service and introduce her then. He- he wasn’t keeping her a week. Hell, if he could help it, he wouldn’t keep her the rest of today…though it was Sunday, the Mother’s might not take kindly to him disrupting them after service, so okay, tomorrow then, first thing. He’d go down, take Ellie to meet them. Monday’d be good, right? Though lots of people didn’t care for Mondays, were cranky, that might apply to clergy, he didn’t want the start of the week blues robbing Ellie of her chance to live someplace nice, safe. So…Tuesday. Maybe Monday, definitely Tuesday. Maybe Wednesday—there were night services then, show them she’s a sweet little Andrasten. Night services were late though…not too late right? Like around dinner time, they’d eat before hand or- or something. He’d figure it out. No later than Thursday or Friday because, you know, he’d introduce her Wednesday and maybe they need to sleep on it or something-

              He’d figure it out! Damn!

              They found a place, a shop for women’s clothing he almost felt embarrassed entering, but he’d a little girl! He wasn’t here to be a Peeping-Thom, there was hardly anything of interest for him here save some clothes for his girl- the girl.

              “Bonjour,” the woman behind the counter greeted politely as they approached.

              “Bonjour!” Ellie greeted in kind, “Comment vas-tu?”

              “Je vais bien,” the woman returned, sounding pleasantly surprised at- at the ruddy Ciriane just dropping from the girl’s lips! “Comment vas-tu, beaute?”

              Ellie blushed at that, hiding against Thom again. “Je vais bien. Merci!”

              “Uhh…” he knew the pleasantries they’d exchanged—how are you, I’m well, blah blah blah, but he wasn’t wildly imbued with Orlais’s mother-tongue. “Hi, sorry, is Trade okay? We’re here to get her some new clothes,” he explained.

              “Oui,” the woman said, “Trade is perfect for trade. I’m sure we can find something splendid for your little girl.”

              She wasn’t his little girl, but it was tiring to deny that at every turn, and he was less likely to come off like a total creep for saying otherwise, so he followed the shopkeeper as she gestured for them to follow her. There were some things already made up, and she’d a book of designs, swatches of fabric to choose from, it was all mind boggling.

              “We’re here to get clothes for me?” Ellie asked quietly, confused. “I- I don’t need-“

              “Of course you do,” Thom insisted. “You can hardly go around in your old things.”

              “B-b-but I- I don’t have any mon-“

              “I do,” he knelt to be more level with her. “Sweetheart, I’m the adult. You’re only a little girl, you aren’t expected to pay for things, not when you’ve got someone looking out for you. Right now, that’s me, so let me handle it, okay?” She frowned at that but nodded. “Good. Now uh…well, what’s your favorite color, Ellie-girl?” _Damn._

              “Mmm, verde- er- vert,” she said to the shopkeeper, “green,” for Thom’s benefit.

              Huh. Well now he knew what his Commanding officer’d been calling him, partly anyway. “Like your eyes then?”

              Eyes that looked up at him real big and, “Ah, si?! My _eyes_ are green?!”

              … “Well yeah, sweetheart,” he said, looking around, there was a tri-fold mirror near by and he gently tugged her along to stand in front of it, “See?”

              “Oh!” she chirped as their mirrored reflections came into view. She let go of his hand and went right up to her own image, poking herself in the cheek before reaching out to touch it, he offered an apologetic smile to the shopkeeper who paid it no mind, a child getting her fingers on her glass. Had she truly never seen herself in a mirror before? “Mister Thom, you’re right! They are green! Pretty!” she was pleased to announce.

              “Of course they are, you’re beautiful lovey, now come, let’s get something that suits?”

              He had to stop himself from going overboard, she was only staying with him for a day or five, and he wasn’t sure what all she could take with her to the Chantry, materialism and all that. But Maker, people wore lots of clothes, didn’t they? Socks with just a bit of lace around their hems, he got her two…three dresses, he couldn’t help it, the shopkeeper had her try on the damn things and something went off in his brain that almost made him buy the whole store. And a few shirts and dungarees for playing about in, he let the shopkeeper handle er, underthings. He wasn’t sure what she’d need, she was only eight, there wasn’t any shape to her, but Liddy’d hadn’t either, but mother had her start wearing training things for practice or something, he wasn’t sure, he just kept everything clean and helped her dress when she was too weak. He didn’t ask any questions, just left it up to Ellie and the woman assisting her, all he said was to make sure she had things for every day of the week. And then he got her a few night gowns, she wouldn’t be going out and about in them, getting them dirty, so two would do. Shoes—shoes were a must, a nicer pair for dressing up, little sandals, and shoes that would protect her feet but didn’t necessarily need to stay very nice, safe for running and play. He got her a bag, bigger, floral pattern, something she could put all of her things in when she moved to the Chantry, and a little purse. She might have things to carry! Now she had a purse to carry them in.

              And Russel got a nice little bowtie out of it, fashioned from some dark blue material with little white polka dots. It made Ellie smile, she thought it was adorable and he couldn’t just _not_ do it! ...did she need bows? She did seem to think they were pretty. So uh...yeah, maybe he went ahead and asked the shopkeeper to throw in ribbons and bows that would uh, match her things. All of them, she might like to sleep with her hair braided or something...he needed to get her hair care things, that was next on the list then. Coconut oil...lots and lots of coconut oil.

              So, he racked up a chunk of change, but it was more than worth it. Ellie was left to her own devices in one of the changing rooms, with strict instruction to come meet him at the counter when she was finished dressing, to call if she needed help. The shopkeeper began tabulating the bill, absently asking,

              “If you leave your name and information, Monsieur, you can be subscribed to a newsletter. You would receive news of sales, updates on our seasonal hours, new inventory, and customer loyalty coupons…”

              “Thom Rainier-“ he stopped himself, he’d answered his name on reflex, when someone asked your name you usually gave it, right? “Er, I’m not interested in a um, newsletter.” He…wasn’t, it wasn’t like he’d be doing this ever again.

              “Rainier?” she asked, and then she smiled, “Oh! Are you Maggie’s Thom?”

              …”Yes?”

              “Oh my goodness!” that had her scratching out whatever she’d been writing down, “Oh I didn’t know she had a granddaughter! Oh she’s so beautiful! Sweet little thing, you’re raising her well, I swear she’s one of the best-behaved children I’ve had in my shop!” He shouldn’t feel proud to hear that, he’d hardly had a hand in it! “Maggie must be so proud—you’ll get the employee discount I offer her then. I’m Clarice, she helped me open up shop after I moved here!”

              “She did?”

              Clarice nodded. “I…I was in a bad situation. Marriage-wise, in Orlais, I fled to the Free Marches for my life. Your mother met me when I was staying in a shelter downtown, said she wished someone could have done the same for her when she was my age. She helped me get a working papers, deal with legal issues to secure a divorce, my claim to what my ex and I shared, and with that she helped me get a loan—it’s been seven years, I own every bit of my business and she still manages my books for me.”

              What ruddy planet was he on?

              “Congratulations,” he offered, that was an awful lot to overcome, “I’m glad my- my mother could help you.” _Was_ she his mother? Maybe there were two physically separate Maggie Rainier’s running around Markham. It was a big city!

              Ellie had finished up apparently, letting the adults finish their conversation, he passed off the coin he owed and pocketed the receipt. Oh, she was wearing the light green cap-sleeved dress that fell to her knees, dotted with little white flowers, white bow that tied around the back and she asked him if he could help her, turned her back to him and he knelt, tying it as uh, symmetrically as he could manage, felt clumsy doing it. He felt more certain when she turned back around and shyly admitted she wasn’t able to figure out the clasps on her shoes—that was…easy enough, in that he knew how to do it, his fingers were a bit big to be fiddling around, threading the tiny hook through the proper hole on the strap. He was nervous he’d put them on too tightly but she assured him he hadn’t, which was a relief, he’d not wished a second attempt. He was glad to see her arms were free of bruising, Elf Root cream and a good night’s rest had cleared it up. Maker, she was just precious.

              And very very nervous as they left the shop. “Th-this is okay?” she asked, the hand he was holding was sweaty and trembling, he rubbed circles on the back of it with his thumb, giving her a reassuring squeeze.

              “Of course,” he promised.

              “W-w-what about- I mean can you take them back? I can leave them with you when I go-“

              “Honey. If you left right now, you’d be free to keep everything I just got you—everything you have? It’s yours, free and clear, no questions asked,” he assured. “Besides you need things. Come on, this way." He was certain there had to be some sort of personal care store near by.

              Her head bopped a bit as she thought and then, "Your mami helped that nice lady?"

              Ahh. Heard that, had she? "Apparently," Thom supposed. He still wouldn't be shell shocked if it was all some big misunderstanding.

              "Are you here to see her?" Ellie wondered.

              "Sometime, maybe."

              "Will I get to meet her?"

              ...no. Nope. Never. Maybe? "Would you want to?" he asked.

              Ellie nodded. "She sounds nice!"

              She did.  _Sound_ nice, at least. But he had all too many experiences that said with absolute certainty, she wasn't. So he wasn't exactly getting his hopes up.

              Ahh! Yes, he found a chandlers* and beautician's shop, which was...fairly pleasant given the place was full of fragrant candles and soaps, higher end perfumes, annnd...yes, thank the Maker. He was almost worried he'd just have to go to a grocers, he'd been hard pressed to find things to treat Liddy's hair. Of course, he'd not been doing his shopping, five-finger-discount or otherwise, in the upper part of the city, so.

               He found a good little tub of coconut oil, let Ellie smell it, oh Maker she seemed excited at the prospect that she might be in for washing up later, getting her hair seen to, it needed a good wash and conditioned badly. He found cleansers that wouldn't damage her hair type, proper conditioners...wash out and leave in both. He let her pick out whatever scent appealed to her most from the chandler's brightly colorful assortment of soapbars, they were all translucent and shiny, the girl was almost distracted by how pretty they were before she set about picking one out. The winner it seemed was one that smelled like fresh melon to him, so, he grabbed a few bars, she could always take these things with her, she'd use them. So that left...oh! Lotion, lotion was a must, Liddy'd get terribly ashy if she went without, her skin would itch so much it ached her. Ellie-girl liked this sort that smelled like vanilla and cinnamon...mostly just made him hungry- oh! Maker! It was nearly gone two, maybe that's why she was drawn to melon and dessert scented body care, the girl had to be famished.

               Thom hurried them along to the counter with their basket of goods, setting it before the cashier who steadily bagged everything in a floral cloth sack and tallied up their bill...well, he did, when he wasn't looking up to steal these very hard glances of Thom. He was a younger bloke...not too terribly young but Thom was hardly looking for someone, oh Maker, he hoped Ellie wasn't about to witness the horror show that was adult flirtation.

              "I'm sorry, but you just- you look  _so_ familiar," the young man said as he looked up from his work, "but I'm pretty sure I'd remember you if you'd shopped here before."

              "Haven't been to Markham in over a decade, son."

              "Is your last name Rainier by any chance?"

              "...yes?"

              He brightened at that, "Oh my god! _Shut up!_ Are you related to Professor Rainier?"

              "Uhh..."

              "You  _so are!_ Oh my god, you look so much like her with the hair, and the eyes! Okay, I'm actually jealous and I hate you, is she not like, the most amazing mom? I would kill for that woman I swear- I took her intro to econ class last semester-"

              Most amazing mom almost sounded as foreign to him as, "Intro to econ?" what was happening?

              "Introduction to Economics? At Markham University*? I swear I want to be her when I grow up. She takes literally zero crap, and she just really, really cares about her students, like she made so many allowances for me last year it was insane. My parents weren't exactly down with the whole 'being into guys' thing, and when they found out I was dating my boyfriend they pulled my tuition, so Maggie gave me a spot as an assistant TA, and helped me find scholarships, hooked me up with this gig because she like, balances Mister Crawford's books or whatever—I make minimum wage and get all the free bars soap I want, and sweetheart," he turned his attention to Ellie, "this melon soap, I live for it. You made like, the best life choice," he assured her as she giggled at his commendations before he haphazardly jumped back into, "Professor Rainier like really went to battle for me with the school board so I could keep my spot. She even let me stay at her place until I could work out living arrangements for myself, and even though I haven't had any classes with her this semester she still checks in on me and takes me to lunch on campus at least once a week."

              ...Thom wasn't certain what to do with even half of that. "I'm glad she uh, helped you out."

              "Are you in town to see her? You should totally come to lunch with us this week, have you seen campus? It's pretty dead this time of year, but summer classes are in session so everything's open. Oh my god, your daughter would totally love this little kids program they have at the main library in the summers where people volunteer to read at storytime, there's great snacks and there's always like some kind of little craft activity that goes along with whatever book they read? My boyfriend helps organize it and it's just a total blast."

              He...he was not sad that taking Ellie to such a thing was likely not in the cards. He was going to find her a good, safe place to live, and...and that was that! And he definitely wasn't having lunch with his mother. Or this other Maggie Rainier, whoever the hell she was. No way in hell his mother was a  _professor_ she barely had the cognizance to string together an ineligible sentence half the time he knew her. "I appreciate the information but we really do need to get going—better get some lunch in the little one before she tries to eat your soap."

              "I just licked the one!" Ellie defended.

              Maker help him he hadn't seen that, "Uh...did you put it in the basket, Ellie-girl?"

              She nodded, "It would be rude to lick it and leave it."

              ...he supposed that much was true. 

              Okay. Enough nonsense. Lunch time. They stopped at this little café with an outdoor seating area, Thom helped her into a cushioned metal chair, the girl let out a little giggly squeak when he pushed her chair in so she could reach the table, and he set their shopping in a chair away from the street, and Russel sat on guard in front of it. Thom took a seat across from the girl and a waiter came to offer them menus.

              “Good afternoon sir, miss, what can I get you to drink?”

              “Water for me,” he said, scanning the little drink menu propped up in the center of the table, “They’ve got fruit juice, apple, orange, grape…” he listed off.

              “What’ll it be for the pretty lady?” the waiter asked.

              He was pretty sure Ellie was swinging her legs, torso swaying to and fro as her head bopped side to side thinking it over. “Can I have apple juice, please?”

              “Of course,” the waiter said, “I’ll give you a minute to look over the menu, and be right back with your drinks.”

              Thom nodded and started looking over the menu himself, Ellie took hers up and…well, she followed the letter of what the waiter had said—she looked it over, quickly, up and down the font, flipped it over, up and down the back, and then set it back down.

              “Do you uh, have an idea of what you want already, sweetheart?” he asked, maybe she’d spotted something she was familiar with or something?

              “What do they have?” she asked. “I like bread.”

              …well that was good, he was pretty sure they served bread before hand, but…oh, she was awful young, but he’d learned to read when he was five, maybe six? He’d had to teach Liddy when she got that age. Just how long had she been on her own? “Well, lets see,” he scanned the menu quickly, discounting any foods he was certain a child would find gross, no snails or livers, or any other strange animal parts. “Are you allergic to anything, do you know?”

              She smiled, shaking her head ‘no’, “I’m not allergic to anything, Ava made sure!”

              “Did she?”

              “Uh-huh, she’s a Healer like Senor Richard!” she said.

              That was relieving to hear, that the girl had someone she knew she could go to.

              When their waiter came back around, he had their drinks, popping a little bending straw into Ellie’s so she didn’t have to run the risk of spilling, and Thom ordered their meals—roast beef sandwich for him, chicken sandwich for her…she looked at him like he’d grown a second head when he asked if there was anything she’d prefer not be on it, he uh…got that. It being wild that she could be so picky as to _turn down_ food. She didn’t ask for anything to be left off, he supposed anything ‘yucky’ could be picked off. Order of Ferelden-style chips for each of them, popular things, you could dip them in this tomato paste, he’d go through buckets of the things with his friends in Orlais.

              Alright. They were at a table now, so.

              “Sweetheart, how long, exactly, have you been on your own? Out of the er, orphanage?”

              She gave it a bit of thought. “Hmm…I was five so…” she splayed eight fingers, closing the three digits on her right hand one by one, “three years?”

              Ahh. Well then, it was little surprise she didn’t know how to read. “Honey, this isn’t any way for a little girl like you to live. It’s so dangerous out there,” Maker, the number of horrible fates she could face turned him off his lunch if he thought about it, “moving around so much, all on your own so often. I know you had a bad experience with the orphanage, but I’d like to try and get you something secure, a roof over your head, where you’d never go hungry, have medical care if you needed it, access to education—I was speaking to Richard and he says the Chantry takes excellent care of the children they take in-“

              Oh Maker, she looked at him like he’d said he thought he found a nice volcano to drop her in, she’d plenty safe there, yeah? Pale and panicked, immediately shaking her head ‘no’, “No no no! N-n-n-no Ch-chantry!”

              He reached across the table just to motion for her to lower her voice, “Shh shh shh, hey, okay, okay, calm down. Sweetheart I- I didn’t mean to upset you. But why ever not, the Chantry? Honey, you’d be safe, they’d take care of you, I’d…” was she getting attached to him? Him? Surely not but still he… “I’d even visit, if you’d like. Just, drop by and make sure they’re taking good care of you.”

              “No Chantry,” she insisted, quieter, but just as firm. “I can’t. I can’t stay. I can’t go to the Chantry. You’re very nice, and you’ve done so much for me—you can have everything back and I’ll just-“

              “Ellie. I need a why, _why_ can’t you stay, or go to the Chantry, you’re Andrasten, right?” he asked. Oh. Oh she was _Antivan_ , “Honey, you’re just a little kid. If the Chantry accepts you, you’ll be given Marcher citizenship, you don’t have to-“

              “They won’t take me!” she insisted, “Even if they do, they- someday they will send me away, someplace _bad_. _Really really bad.”_

              “Where would they send you?”

              Her chin quivered, oh Maker, he hadn’t meant to make her cry. “Ellie, I promise, I would never let anyone hurt you. If I came back and found out they’d sent you someplace, I’d come and find you-“ she shook her head ‘no’, “Okay, okay. I’m- I’m sorry I brought it up. It was just a suggestion, honest, I didn’t mean to upset you. I just…I want what’s best for you.”

              “It’s best if- if I don’t stay too long. That’s what’s best for me.”

              He let it drop, at least for now. She was quiet as they ate—she ate every last bite of what was offered her, downed a glass of apple juice, a few glasses of water. Last of her chips though, she swiped a huge glop of ketchup on and dropped into her lap.

              “I’m so so sorry-!”

              “Oh Ellie-girl, hush, it’s not a big deal,” he assured, “Let’s wipe that up as best we can—it can be cleaned, look good as new.” She nodded at that.

              “Um…would it be okay if I changed?” she asked. Well the way she was staring at him, so very hopeful, she could do anything she liked he supposed, certainly something as obvious as wanting to change into clean clothes, not walk around with a stain on her dress.

              “Of course.”

              She picked some clothing out of their shopping, dungarees, a shirt, and her sandals. She used her beat up little pack to carry them in, and then Thom waved over a nice waitress to ask if she’d show Ellie to the little girl’s room.

              “Of course, oh. Poor thing, you made a little mess, huh?” the woman sympathized.

              Ellie nodded, she was up out of her seat, and she came to Thom and he leaned forward thinking she’d something to say- well Maker, she hugged him around the neck, “Thank you,” she said.

              “Of course sweetheart. I’ll be waiting when you’re done.”

              She nodded at that, turned to the seat Russel was in, and hugged the bear tight in farewell, and then she took the waitresses hand, and they disappeared into the restaurant proper.

              He sighed, waiting patiently. He decided to looked over the dessert menu, find something that might cheer her up, Maker, he still felt badly for having upset her so much. She…clearly had issues. With trust, and authority. He wasn’t sure what to say that might convince her to stay, that she didn’t have to keep run-

              The waitress was taking the order of a table just inside the door when he rushed into the restaurant, “Just a moment-“

              “Is she still in the restroom?” he asked, “did you see her leave?”

              “N-no, I mean yes she’s in the restroom, I haven’t seen her come out-“

              “I’m sorry,” an elder woman said as she approached, “I was just going to get the manager, but did I hear you asking about leaving something in the restroom?”

              “Yes,” he said quickly, well, sort of, he meant someone leaving the restroom full stop, “Did you see a little girl, yea high, dark skin, red hair-“

              “Oh honey I didn’t see who it was—I was just in there and there’s this little back pack left with a little girl's dress and socks in it-“

              Thom bolted for the restroom, the door hanging open and the window, the damn window was wide open, a lidded trash bin had been scooted to sit under it’s edge, a little handprint still splayed on the top of the metal lid from where she’d climbed-

              Damn it! Damn it, she was good, she- oh, she could be _lost,_ she could be in _danger,_ he had to find her, had to make this right!

              “You!” he called to the waitress who’d followed him when he ran, “My girls missing, I have to go get her, you watch our things, I’ll be back for them.”

              “Oh my god, I’ll call the guards-“

              “I’ve got it, you just watch our things!”

              He wasn’t ruddy going to the _guards_. Not yet anyway—those bastards wouldn’t even look for her until she’d been proper missing, at least a day, sometimes two. Besides, she couldn’t have gotten far.

              The window Ellie had to climb to get through, Thom got through just fine, he could step over and swing his other leg through, and then he looked, little footprints in the dirt leading left—away from the main street, deeper into the alley, smart if you were trying to avoid getting caught but bloody stupid if you didn’t want to- anyone could be out there!

              “Ellie!” wait, shit, she was running from him- he- he had to catch her, catch up to her and try to talk her into coming back with him, oh Maker, he’d bungled this all to hell.

              “…s a sweet little thing like you doin’ out here all on your own?” a man’s voice, lecherous, had Thom’s heart pounding in his ears, feet slamming the pavement trying to move faster, especially when he heard a sweet little voice insisting in hard tones,

              “No hablas Trade. No moneys.” That was smart, playing dumb...had she been doing that at all with him? Her Trade improved with him during the day, but she did genuinely struggle from time to time. Good to see she ran into these men and immediately didn't trust them at all.

              “No money? Figures. Won’t be too hard to turn a profi-“

              “You get the hell away from her!” Thom shouted with all the air in his lungs as he caught up Ellie was cornered, looked like one man had come up from in front of her, the other from behind to stop her in the middle of an alley way, Maker’s breath. “Sweetheart, you can’t just run off like that—she’s with me, back off, now.”

              The man that’d addressed her looked to him, snorted. “She don’t look like you, definitely don’t talk like you, unless you banged some sweet mamacita and her brat just turned up—she ain’t yours. Mind your business, we’re good here.”

              “No, we aren’t good here,” Thom seethed. “Ellie. Come here, to me, now. If either of you lay a hand on her, you’re dead.”

              Well. He’d warned them.

              Elile’d taken a tentative step forward only to flinch when the other man put his hand on her shoulder to halt her, shoved her harshly into the wall-

              He might actually kill them, he was pretty sure he was having an out of body experience, he somehow felt like he was blacking out, and capable of seeing himself rush that man, and put a fist in his stomach, right in the liver, had him down in the blink of an eye.

              And then he heard the _shing_ of a blade. And Ellie _screamed._

              He whipped around, ready to face the other man, and was met with solid contact, low, the man made to stab him would’ve got him right in the kidneys if- well he wasn’t sure why he didn’t have a knife in his guts-

              Something cool, and magical cast over him, he almost didn’t perceive it it was so very light, but it happened in the split second before he felt the pressure of contact from the man and his blade hitting him, but none of the pain, no damage done. Barrier. S-some one-

              But- but she was just a  _kid*._

               _They’ll send me away to someplace bad. Really really bad._

              Apparently someplace really really bad, would be Ansburg*. 

              He quickly maneuvered the knife out of the man’s hand to his surprise, “You get the hell out of here,” Thom threatened, brandishing the blade in his direction, praying to everything he hadn’t seen something.

              “Shit, shit- okay man, okay,” seriously? He was cowering all of a sudden just because he’d lost a blade? It wasn’t like he didn’t have a solid two hundred pounds behind that blade. Of course, he was hardly complaining, “Come on, man come on!” he yelled at his friend, hauling him up by the collar of his shirt and running in the opposite direction.

              He…he wasn’t entirely certain what to do. Blade had no sheath now, and he didn’t need it, so he dropped it. Turned to look to Ellie. Oh, she was curled in on herself, face buried in her knees, shaking with sobs. He knelt to be level with her.

              “Sweetheart, are you hurt?”

              She sniffled a few times, looking up at him, “Ar-re you?”

              “No. Thank you,” he supposed, clearing his throat. He…oh hell. He got… “So. You’re trying to stay out of a Circle. Templars earlier, you thought they were there for you.”

              Her expression crumbled at that, and she cried harder, nodding. “I’m s-s-s-s-“

              He didn’t need her sorrys. “How long have you known?” she held up her hand, three digits. Three years- so. That was why she’d been kicked out of the Orphanage, Maker she was so young to be presenting magic, they’d…they’d hurt her badly, it sounded like. Hadn’t called the Templars just- oh Maker, they probably beat on her until they thought she was _dead_ \- “Alright,” he said. “Come on. Waitress is keeping Russel and your things safe.”

              “You can take them, pl-please just let me go-“

              “I’m not holding you captive girl. I’m not turning you in. You can’t stay with anyone because they don’t know you’re a mage. When they find out, they uh, react bad, try to turn you over to Templars, hurt you?” she nodded. “Well. That stops here. I know now. And I would never hurt you Ellie.”

              “You still want me to go to the Chantry-“ she was guessing.

              “No. I want you to go with me,” he…he found himself saying. Oh Maker, Maker he was crazy. And screwed, and a fool but, “From now on, however long you’d like to stay, you have a place with me.”

              She sniffled, and he was startled by this sudden gasping she did- in and out real fast, like she was trying hard to catch her breath but couldn’t, but she got it after a few seconds, and wiped at her nose with back of her hand. “R-r-really?”

              “Really," he affirmed. "Come on sweetheart. Let’s go get Russel, okay? I’m sure he misses you.”

              “I miss him too I-“ her chin quivered and then he was startled again—her arms around his neck for a second time, and another, “Thank you.” This time he wasn’t too worried she was about to skip out on him again. He wrapped his arms around her and she didn’t offer up any protest, so he stood, started the walk back through…well, he’d find it. Hit the main road, work his way back to the café.

              “Oh! Oh my goodness, oh my gosh!” the waitress worried the second she saw them, she’d been waiting out front of the restaurant, standing guard over their things, “Oh my god, oh my god is she okay?!”

              “She’s alright, this is uh, all very new, she’s just coming to live with me and got a little bit overwhelmed, it’s okay,” he assured, rubbing circles on Ellie’s back and she buried her face against the crook of his neck, sniffling a bit. He took up Russel and handed him to her, held her secure with one arm so she could take hold of the bear and hug him to herself with an arm while keeping the other wrapped around his neck. Waitress had put her tattered pack with the clothing she’d abandoned in the restroom, into the bag with the rest of her new things, so he took that up, slung it over his free shoulder, “Thanks, uhh…” shit, he still- they’d had a meal he needed to pay for.

              “Oh thank the Maker,” the waiter that had served them breathed as he joined them, “She’s alright?”

              “She’s fine. Thank you, I’m so sorry about everything—how much do I owe-“

              “Don’t even worry about it, it’s already been covered. That woman over there paid your bill the minute you went after your little girl,” he said, pointing to the elder woman from before, she looked over and saw them, raising her hand to wave as the waiter said, “we’re all just glad she’s safe.”

              Thom approached the older woman, offered to pay her back but she wouldn’t hear of it. “Absolutely not. I’m glad you found her—you shouldn’t scare your father like that, sweetie.”

              “I’m really sorry,” Ellie offered sincerely, but quiet, exhausted.

              “That’s a good girl. You mind your father and stay safe.” Though she wondered, “What’s your name, sweetie?”

              Ellie was still sniffling, had to coughing quietly to clear her throat so he said, “This is Ellie, I’m Thom,” he introduced himself, feeling badly he couldn’t offer her a hand or something but he wasn’t putting Ellie down anytime soon. “Thom Rainier.”

              And once more, “Oh my word, Maggie’s Thom?” the woman asked with delighted surprise.

              “Yes,” he said. "You know her?"

              “I was supposed to meet her here for lunch, I’m Agatha, Maggie’s a dear, dear friend of mine! She usually takes Sundays off, but she got a message from a client with an emergency so she cancelled, headed straight for the office—you know the place, just up the street? 116 Park."

              He...he supposed he was in luck, then.

              "Thank you very much, have a good day," he wished her.

              "You too, take care!"

              "Where're we going?" Ellie asked softly.

              He needed...he needed  _help_. Maybe, somehow, someway, help would for once in his life, be synonymous with, "We're going to meet my mother."

 

* * *

 

              116 Park, 116 Park come on come on come on, that woman said right up the street, but it didn’t feel close enough and that…Maker, in what world did he go running to his mother for help? But maybe…maybe she could.

              Please. Maker please don’t let this be a mistake, some horrible, twisted misunderstanding.

              “I’m really really sorry,” Ellie mumbled miserably into his neck.

              “Shhh hush Ellie-girl, it’s all gonna be okay,” he promised, oh, he winced when she whimpered as he jostled her a bit, he only had the one arm around her and she’d been slipping. “Sorry honey, we’re almost there.”

              They were—thank the Maker, 116 Park Street was…well shit it was a nice building, pale grey stone, a white wooden door with a large plane of glass with a Andrasten sigil emblazon in it in silver he- was this really the right place?

              Maybe it wasn’t…maybe it was in the most unfortunate sense. There was a woman just approaching the entry way, taking her leave that looked every bit of the woman that screamed in his face, took him by the ear and cast him into the street—gangly limbed, pencil thin, graying hair a wild mess, and jonesing something bad, pallid and sweating. A tall, younger woman was walking alongside her, arm wrapped around her shoulders, and Thom stepped back from the door so it could swing open,

              “Maggie Rainier?” he asked.

              “I’m sorry, who are you?” the younger woman questioned him.

              “Thom Rainier, I was told this is her office but-“

              “Oh! I thought you looked familiar—she has your portrait on her desk. She’s just inside finishing up some paperwork, go on in, here, I’ll hold the door,” she offered, leading the woman out and standing aside, letting them through.

              “Th-thank you,” Thom breathed, he wasn’t sure if it was to her, or the Maker. Probably both.

              He felt clumsy, booted feet clunking heavy on the shiny hardwood floors, even more when the only thing he could think to call to figure out just where the hell this supposed woman was, was,

              “Mom!” poured up from his throat, loud, and urgent.

              “State yourself, I will call the guard-“ was what got shouted back by a woman who came stomping out of the room at the end of the hall, armed with a- with a ruddy crowbar.

              And…and wearing sky blue pantsuit over a immaculate white blouse, matching blue high heels clicking on the floorboards, graying raven hair carefully coiffed and tucked into a bun at the back of her head, blue eyes clear and shiny as he’d ever seen them. Just- had she somehow gotten _younger?_ Aged in reverse? She’d lines of age around her eyes but her skin was plump and smooth, rosy cheeked, pallid but not in a way that was unhealthy, once upon a time it’ been haggard and almost yellow-ish grey.

              And now her eyes were wide, she jumped when her crowbar clattered to the floor as it slipped from her hand.

              “Th- _Thom?”_

              “Yeah. Yeah it’s me.”

              She looked like she might cry and then she moved forward like she intended to hug him but stopped herself, splaying her hands low as if instilling some self-restraint before she looked to him, and then a little lower to the girl cradled against him, “Who is this?”

              “This is Ellie, can…can we sit?”

              “Of course, just a moment um. Here,” she moved to the door on the wall to his right and pushed open the double doors to reveal a…well a sitting room would do for sitting, he supposed. “Please, make yourselves at home—I’ll be right back,” she promised.

              Thom let out a sigh that just barely covered the relief he felt…and the surprise…and-

              Was he going into shock? He was pretty sure he was going into shock. He couldn’t feel his hands, his heart was pounding in his chest and he wasn’t sure if he needed to sit down or throw up.

              The sitting room was nice, had a rather large plush Orlesian rug that covered most of the floorspace…so, he should probably try just sitting down first.

              He put the bag of clothing down in a chair and then he- he’d meant to sit on the couch but he found himself kneeling before it to set Ellie down,

              “It’s okay honey, we’re safe here, everything’s okay shhh, Russel’s gonna sit with you, and I’ll be right at your side if you let go, okay? Ellie?” oh hell, it wasn’t that she wasn’t letting go, she was completely lax in his hold, when he leaned her back her head snapped straight back, head lolling against the back of the couch, oh Maker, “Ellie? Come on baby girl, please-“

              “Sorry, I had to lock up. What’s the matter?” M-mother asked as she came back into the room, kneeling at Thom’s side, “Okay, let’s see here, what happened exactly?”

              He wasn’t even sure where to start but his brain was still functioning on some level, he didn’t know what to do, but- he explained that they’d gotten separated, the thing that barely passed as a fight, Ellie getting knocked into a wall.

              Maggie Rainier nodded, hands on either side of Ellie’s face, “Ellie, yes?” she checked with him and when he nodded, she moved the girl so she was laying flat on her back on the couch, "Be a dear and prop her legs up," she instructed, and Thom tucked a few couch pillows under her knees as his mother put her hands to Ellie's temples, massaging a bit, “Ellie, honey, we need you to open your eyes, can you do that for me sweetheart? Ohh there’s a good girl,” she breathed as her eyes blinked open, she looked a little confused, dazed. “Hi, honey you took a little bump to the head. Does it hurt at all?”

              “Mm-hmm,” she confirmed, face scrunching up as she winced.

              “Okay, do you feel light headed? We're going to try sitting up now, take it slow,” Maggie said, helping the girl sit up and lean forward while the older woman examined the back of her head, “Ooh honey, yeah you’ve got a nasty little bump here. It’s okay—Thom, my office is just across the hall, there’s an emergency medical kit in my top left desk drawer.”

              He just did what he was told though the moment he had the medical kit in hand he remembered he had some things from their Healers visit last night and- oh. oh there was a small portrait of him on her desk…an almost current one, one he’d had to pose for a few years back when he made Captain in the Orlesian military, they were public record and loved ones could request them so…huh, he just ever thought she’d do something like that. And he passed the framed news article on his Tourney victories hanging just in the office doorway on his way out which was…helpful, more proof positive this was real and not the Maker’s most elaborate, sick joke.

              When he came back, Ellie’s dungarees were rolled up to just above her knees, she must have fallen before Thom caught up with her, the skin on her knee caps scraped and bruising…bleeding, oh Maker, she was a- she was a Mage, what if-

              He was more distracted by the fact Maggie Rainier was kneeling before her, making play with Russel the bear, offering the girl distraction with a smile and a silly voice eliciting a little giggle from the child.

              “Ahh, good, bring that here and we’ll get this all cleaned up,” she said, she’d…huh there had been a washbasin on the far side of the room, she’d brought over the bowl and clean towels, had clearly already cleaned the girl’s knees and now she dug out bandaging and Elf Root tonic, took a cotton pad and doused it in tonic, wielding it in one hand while she held up Russel in the other, shaking him before Ellie’s eyes, humming a little song while she carefully treated the girl’s injuries, broken skin mending in her wake. “Excellent job sweetheart, you’re being so good for me! Such a brave big girl,” his mother encouraged. “Now, if you’ll hold Russel and turn around for me, I’d like to take a look at the bump on your head, okay?”

              Ellie nodded, tucking her legs up and turning about on the couch so her back was to them, there was another little scrape on the back of her right elbow, and one just below her hair line on the back of her neck where she’d hit a brick wall, mother had those cleaned and treated quickly, like she’d had a great deal of practice, and then she examined the back of Ellie’s head, “Ooh honey, ouch. Does your head ache at all, dear?”

              “Uh-huh, a little,” Ellie admitted.

              “Okay, well, lets see…”

              Thom cleared his throat, “We have Elf Root cream if that would work best on the er, bump,” Maker there was a knot the size of his fist on the back of her head.

              “That’s perfect,” his mother said, “you go ahead and apply some directly, and I’ll see if I can remember the right dosage…sweetie do you know how much you weigh?” she asked.

              They'd need to get her in to a Healers for a check up or something sometime, Richard had been a great help but he hadn't given her a full blown physical or anything. Thom spoke quietly, “I’d say maybe thirty-five, forty pounds?”

              His mother nodded, “Alright, I’ll be right back—do you like juice sweetheart? I’ve got some apple juice in the kitchen.”

              Ellie nodded shyly, “I like it lots,” she said.

              Maggie let out a happy sounding gasp of surprise, “Me too!” she said, sharing conspiratorially, “It’s my favorite,” earning a little smile from the girl, “I’ll be right back.”

              Thom plied cream to the bump on the back of Ellie’s head as gently as humanly possible, Maker. He hadn’t been entirely sure what Ellie’s weight had to do with juice drinking, but when Maggie returned, his mother had a glass of juice, a small wooden teacup, and a teaspoon. She used the teaspoon to measure out an appropriate dose of Elf Root tonic for someone Ellie’s size, mixing it into the juice before seating herself on the couch alongside Ellie and offering her the beverage, “There’s a little bit of Elf Root in it, it should clear up your headache, alright honey?”

              “Gracias,” Ellie offered sweetly as she turned to sit facing the woman, and when Thom sat on the girl’s other side he…well he didn’t dislike that the girl leaned back against him, relaxing a bit as she sipped at her drink.

              Maggie nodded, “De nada,” she replied in kind, taking up the wooden tea cup and ‘handing it’ to Russel, it sat in front of the stuffed bear for his consumption. And then she looked to Thom, “You’re not hurt, are you hun?”

              “I’m just fine,” he assured. Exhausted now, not entirely sure where to even begin moving forward, or what he should be doing, or how to cope with even half of the things that were going on in his life at the moment.

              “You're Thom's mami?” Ellie asked before sipping at her drink some more. Maggie nodded and the girl smiled, "You're very pretty and nice!"

              “You are very pretty and nice as well,” the woman complimented warmly.

              “You uh…you look well,” Thom said. Yeah, she was even pretty.

              She smiled at that, “Thank you. I’ve been... _well,”_ _clean_ he supposed, she meant, “for almost fifteen years now.”

              Fifteen…Maker, really? “Wow that…that’s really great,” he said.

              “How did you know where to find me?” she wondered.

              “Your friend, Agatha? Ellie-girl and me, we were having lunch at this little Café up the street, she helped us out and um…well when I gave her my name, she said you’d cancelled your plans with her to meet with a client, some sort of emergency? That um…those women, they’re clients?”

              “One of them, yes, Lainey, she's a music instructor for a local private school. We all go to the same meetings. Lainey sponsors the woman she was with—Willa, she needed to go to a meeting spur of the moment, but Lainey was caught in the middle of running a Children’s Chantry service so she sent word to me asking if I could sit with Willa until she could meet us here.”

              “She didn’t look like she felt very good,” Ellie worried.

              “She doesn’t, but she’ll be okay,” Maggie assured her, “How are you feeling?”

              “Lots better, thank you,” she said, yawning quietly into her hand.

              “You know, I get some of the best sleep on this couch? It’s very comfortable—I have blankets and pillows, and Mister Russel looks awfully sleepy to me. I’m sure he’ d love to take a nap with you,” Maggie said, enticing the girl. And him, forget Russel, Thom needed a damn nap!

              Ellie nodded, agreeing to a nap, but she turned around and hugged Thom tightly when Maggie got up to fetch pillows and blankets, “You’ll stay?”

              “Of course, I’ll be right here when you wake up, I won’t leave without you," he promised. "Ellie, why didn't you tell me you were hurt?" she'd deflected it when he asked her before, he realized.

              "I...I didn't want to sc-scare you. Being a mage and um, bleeding."

              "Well you'll find I'm hard to scare," he offered. He'd been wholly terrified several times in the last 24 hours, but usually...usually much didn't scare him. "Honey, if...I'm going to take care of you now. So I need you to be honest with me, come to me whenever you're hurt or in trouble, and let me help you. Alright?"

              She nodded. "Al...alright."

              "So you're okay now? After bleeding?”

              “Uh-huh,” she assured as if it wasn’t any big deal. “Oh! Um…demons don’t bother me? I mean if I am hurt badly they might come, but they don’t have anything I want. Ava um…she’s like me? She’s trained me. I would never ever let one in, promise. Help from demons isn't help, they're always going to give you something that will bring you right back to them for more, so...anything they have to offer is useless,” she shrugged.

              Well…she did seem to have a track record of injury, and she hadn’t been demon possessed so far. He didn’t know very much about it…that would have to change, obviously. He didn’t know much about anything. Healer said she wasn’t in any of the healthy growth percentiles, he didn’t even know what a percentile was! How big did she need to be? How did he make that happen? What did kids eat? What was healthy? She wasn’t allergic to anything…she didn’t know how to read! Could she go to school? Was that safe? Should he get her a tutor? Tutors? Oh, did she need more clothing—he should’ve signed up for that damn newsletter!

               Oh Maker, they needed a place to _live!_  He couldn't keep schlepping her along to a different inn every night. Uhhh a house? An apartment? Where? Markham? What was even happening?

              What was he going to tell _Cyril?!_ Hey love, how ya doin’? Long time no see in about a week, anyway I’m settling down with my brand new Mage daughter I’ve known all of a day? Love you?

              Huh. His uh…his daughter, was that what she’d be? Nooo. He- he wasn’t a father. He was just…a man, who chose to take charge in the care and well being of a small Human child. Yeah.

              Mother brought a pillow for the girl, and Thom got up so she could lay down with Russel tucked up under her chin, and Thom took the blanket the woman offered, and knelt, covering her up, “Sleep well sweetheart. Let me know if you need anything okay?” he took hold of her hand, rubbing circles with his thumb, “I’m right here, and I’ll be here when you wake up. You’re safe, and no one is going to hurt you.” And he uh…well he hummed a bit, just- she needed a song to fall asleep last night, he thought it might help her now.

              “Well, I could use some coffee. Would you care for a cup, honey?” Maggie asked him, her hand on his shoulder.

              That uh…yeah, some caffeine might help. “Please.” She nodded and moved like she was preparing to clean up after the mess they’d made of medical supplies and the water basin, but, “I’ll get it, you go on ahead.”

              She left him to his own devices and he did his best, putting the bowl back on it’s stand and looking about—in the basin stand’s cabinet there were more clean towels and a little hamper he could toss the ones they used. Packed up the medical kit, put the jar back into his bag of Ellie’s things and then he ran the kit back to his mother’s office…Maker she had a damn office. She…she seemed like a collected, calm, normal Human being. Oh...oh wow. There was something he'd missed before, in her office, hanging right over the mantle of her fireplace. A goddamn  _degree_. Three of 'em! All from the University of Markham, bachelors degrees for  _Margret Lydia Rainier_  one in accounting the other in...in _law._ Oh hell, there- she had a ruddy _Masters_ in _Entrepreneurship._

              Holy hell. She was...she was smart. And...capable. And he needed at least a week to even begin processing this. He- before she reached out to him, half the time he just told himself she died in a gutter somewhere. Her still being alive hadn't painted any better pictures for him, he figured she was just alive in a gutter, wanting him to come home with whatever money he'd made and either guilt him out of it or run him through and take it to blow on her next high.  _This_ was wildly, wildly different, never in his craziest fever dreams would he even begin to imagine she'd have the sort of life she was leading.

              The kitchen branched off of the sitting room, he had to pass back through it to get there, might have taken a minute just to make sure the girl was still sleeping alright, adjusted the blanket where she’d kicked it a bit off of her feet…

              He lost her damn sandals. They’d fallen off somewhere, at some point, but uh, at least she had plenty of socks and more shoes.

              He’d get her some with the little straps on the back, they’d fit more secure...maybe a few pairs, they were cute on her and he was apparently entitled to his mother's employee's discount. So.

              Mother was just pulling the kettle off the stove when he entered the kitchen, moving to pour two piping hot mugs, handing him one before setting the kettle aside and taking up her own and sipping at it, so, he followed suit.

              “…so,” she said.

              “…so,” he offered in kind. "University of Markham, huh?"

              She blushed, nodding. "Uh-huh. I um...a few months after you left I bottomed out, hard," she started to explain.

              "After I _left?'_ he asked bitingly. She...she looked surprised at that.

              "Honey, I'm not blaming you. Roles reversed, I would have run away too-"

              "I didn't run away!" sleeping child in the next room you dolt! He cleared his throat, lowering his voice, "You kicked me out."

              She stared at him, wide eyed, "I- I did-? Oh..." she took a deep breath, gripping the warm mug in her hands more tightly. "Thom I- oh Maker. I was so sick, sweetheart I- I believe you, but I...oh honey I swear, I really don't remember. After Liddy passed I- I barely remember anything that happened in that time. I ended up in jail, when I sent for you to come bail me out and you didn't show, I ended up serving some time in prison and I er...sobered up. Got into a program that I kept up with once I was out- I came home and I thought- I wasn't sure what to think, I asked after you, you were still alive, on your own but I figured...I figured it was best for you, being no where near me while I was still figuring out my own sh- er, baggage. I didn't realize you were staying away because I'd kicked you out, I thought you'd finally gotten sick of me, I didn't want to dare try contacting you until I was someone worth your time."

              She...had been pretty wild, out of her mind when she kicked him out. He'd thought she might be about to kill him truth be told. He cleared his throat, "You got into a program you said?"

              She nodded. "I'm Maggie and I'm an addict," she offered up with a rueful grin. "Started going to meetings in prison, kept it up once I was out. There's a few different meetings I go to every week, one of them is downtown where a Professor from the University attends for discretion, he'd prefer not running the risk of running into one of his students. He was friends with my sponsor, and heard I was having a hard time finding work and he let me know there were openings for cleaning staff at the University...all University employees are offered free education if they care to pursue it, not everyone does, but I did. Eventually I went from cleaning lady to teachers assistant, to adjunct professor—I still hold that position, teaching classes a few evenings a week. I started taking accounting clients when I was still in school, Dana was my first, she let me balance her books for practice, experience. I just hung my shingle maybe a month before I read about your-" she smiled, was practically beaming, _"Thom,_ Champion of the Grand Tourney? Sweetheart I am so, so incredibly proud of you. That's just- that's so amazing. I...wanted to reach out to you, but I was afraid you might perceive it as uh...your junkie mother discovering you'd just come into some money. And then you went into the military. I tried to keep tabs on you, how you were doing. When I learned you were finishing your final tour of duty...well I've been leading a clean and stable life for well over a decade now. So...I reached out." She licked her lips, sipped at her coffee for a moment and then, she cleared her throat. "I...it wasn't like I was receiving minute by minute details on your life, but er...I didn't hear anything about a child. Ellie is…?” and at his awkward silence trying to sort through everything that happened and how to explain without jeopardizing Ellie’s safety. “Honey, come on. It’s me, I’m hardly the person to judge you. You’re sure she’s yours? She _does_  have cheekbones like your aunt Mavin-“

              Hold up, “I have an _aunt?”_ Since when?

              She nodded. “She passed when we were thirteen, three or so months after I got pregnant with you. She uh...she'd been excited, to be an aunt. Would've loved you and Liddy to pieces.”

              “You were both thirteen?” he...he'd always known his mother was young, but Maker, she'd only been a  _child._

              “Fraternal twins,” she offered.

              “Oh. I’m- I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

              “Well…that’s hardly a surprise, you don’t really have a way _to_ know,” she shrugged.

              Thom shook his head to clear it, “Um, Ellie isn’t- she is mine, now. Or at least I- I want her to be. We um, I met her on the road here, she’s from Antiva—an orphan. She’s been traveling the Free Marches all on her own and um, hasn’t been able to find someplace safe and I-“

              “You want to take care of her,” his mother said as if it were obvious to expect, like that was concerning, “Honey, you’ve always been that person. You spent your entire childhood taking care of me, of…of Liddy-“

              “And whose fault was that?” he snapped.

              “Mine,” she assured him. “I’m not blaming or judging you sweetheart, I just think you should stop and _really_ consider-“

              “Nope. Already stopped, already considered," sort of, mostly, it didn't matter, "I’m doing this, and I only came here because from all the things I’ve been hearing all day you might actually be of help in this situation. You’re either in or you aren’t and we’ll be on our way.”

              “Al- alright, I’m sorry I- I just didn’t want you rushing into something…if you grow to regret it, the person you’ll hurt the most is Ellie. I’ve been there, done that, it’s why we’re here today,” she said, “If you’re absolutely certain, _of course_ I’ll do anything I can to help you.”

              …”Alright. Thank you,” he said, sipping at his coffee… “Here…here isn’t that bad. You’ve um, done well for yourself. You’re a uh, accountant?”

              She nodded. “Uh huh. Turns out when I’m not too busy chasing dragons, I’ve a mind for math and law.”

              “Law?” oh yeah, bachelors in it, huh.

              “I know, can you believe it? Break enough and I suppose their ins and out stick with you,” she offered lightly. “I help other women take control of their finances and run their own business and the like.”

              “I uh, met Dana, and Clarice. Some uh, bloke, student of yours? Works in this soap shop on this little street off of Park?”

              “James! I thought your bags looked familiar,” she said, “You went on a bit of a spree?”

              “She needed things, the girl was basically in rags when we met and I couldn’t have her walking around barefoot in my old nightshirt.”

              “So…you would like to adopt her?”

              He nodded. “I um…I’m not sure how exactly that’ll work. I’d rather not try getting in contact with her old orphanage they um…probably think she’s dead and it might be best if it stays that way.”

              “Oh my word, are you serious?” she breathed, shaking herself, “Alright…we can work with that if you’re willing to bend some truth. If you’re truly, genuinely in this…I can make that happen, all you have to do is take care of that girl and keep your story straight.”

              “Story?”

              “While you were in the Military you met and bedded an Antivan woman, when she passed her estate reached out and informed you of your child, in fact that's why your last tour out was your last, so you could collect her and bring her home to raise. I’ll secure her appropriate documentation, and everything you’ll need to prove parentage, have custody of her.”

              “Isn’t that uh…just a little illegal?”

              “It’s a lot illegal, but whose to dispute us? Clarice was with child when she first came here, has a boy just about Ellie’s age. She needed help making certain her ex-wife couldn't claim maternity of their child-," at the bit of confusion that sparked in Thom's features she smiled, "It involves a bit of magic, Clarice carried a child produced by donor sperm and her ex wife's egg. Their relationship had always been volatile but she was under the impression bringing a child into it would somehow fix it, had promises from her ex that she would change...she did not. So. As far as anyone else is concerned, Clarice suffered a miscarriage—that isn't terribly far from the truth, she nearly did lose her son, it's what prompted her leaving. So we spun it that she did lose him, and when she fled for fear her wife would blame her, her son was sired by an ‘unknown Marcher’ shortly after. Claiming her son has Marcher paternity assisted her immigration to Markham and keeps her ex-wife from having a legal claim to him,” she smiled, "I do promise the accounting portion of my job is wholly above board. But sometimes the best way to truly help people, make them safe, is to go against the letter of the law.”

              He uh…he felt that, especially considering…oh Maker, he wasn’t sure if he should even say anything or-

              His mother just finished another sip of coffee and then, “And you _definitely_ want as few questions as possible, considering she’s an apostate.”

              He choked on his coffee, coughing up a storm as he tried to clear his throat.

              “I’m old, not deaf,” she assured him, ahh. She’d heard their little chat about demon possession. Well then. “I have Apostate students and clients. I don’t have strong feelings on Circling or not, other than I do…support the idea that it should be a choice.”

              He nodded. “Ellie is uh…she’s absolutely terrified of Circles.”

              “We’ll do everything we can to keep her from them, then,” she promised. “Do you…have a place to stay?” she wondered then.

              “I’ll have to pick up a paper and look for listings. We stayed last night at Dana’s.”

              “There’s plenty of room at home if- if you were interested. You’re more than welcome, for however long you need.”

              “Old place?” he wondered.

              “Neighborhood’s improved over the years, and I’ve been able to fix up the house. I um…I own it now.”

              “That’s really great,” he said, “Uhh…” shit. He hadn’t been- nothing was going according to plan, but he wasn’t sure that was a bad thing. Ellie needed a roof over her head, and he needed to watch his coin purse, make sure they had enough to get by while he was still figuring things out—there was housing, and what was he going to do, career wise? Maker. “Y-yeah. Sure. As long as that’s alright by you-“

              Maggie cleared her throat softly, looking down, oh, her eyes had watered a bit but she wasn’t wishing to make a big deal of it he supposed. She turned her back to him to face the counter again, top off her coffee as she said, “Of course. I’d be happy to have you home.”

              “We won’t uh…be imposing on you or uh, anyone?”

              “No, no. I cut ties with…everyone from before,” she said.

              “Seeing anyone new?” he wondered, politely.

              She smiled, shaking her head. “No. I mostly focus on my work, my sobriety.” Then, “What about you? Aside from hypothetical Antivan one night stands?”

              …oh his uh, stomach sort of twisted at that. He wasn’t…he wasn’t sure she knew, or if she did, how she’d feel about it. But uh,that store clerk...what was his name? He hadn't given it, had he? Mother'd been of help to him, accepting. So, he offered it as light as possible, like it was common knowledge, because technically it was, to people in their lives. “Cyril and me still have a steady thing goin’.”

              “Oh!” she chirped at that, “Oh I’m so happy to hear that! I thought you two would make a nice pair."

              “You uh, knew?” he wondered.

              She nodded. “When I was actually paying attention, yes I…I mean it was obvious that boy was head of heels in love with you, I knew as much when you two were Ellie’s age. Cyril’s always been stuck on you—I’m just glad to hear the feeling is mutual. He seems to be a good man.”

              “You seen him around?”

              “Occasionally, he…he checks in on me, when he comes to visit his parents.”

              …that, Thom hadn’t known. Which was probably for the best, they’d likely be broken up if he’d known Cyril had any contact with his mother before uh, today. So.

              “This is all a lot different,” Thom said awkwardly, trying to compliment, he just felt like he wasn’t doing a very good job at it. “You’re um…you’re doing good, mom.”

              “I should’ve done good back then,” she said. “But the only thing I can do now, is my best to do good from now on. I am serious, honey. Whatever you need, whatever that girl needs, I’m…I’m in if you are.”

              “You’ve not even known her an hour,” he offered gently, meaning it was okay if she still had her hesitances.

              She checked her watch, insisting, “It's been exactly one hour and fourteen minutes since you two came barging in here. I’m sorry I was ready to beat you with a crowbar—this is a nice neighborhood but a lot of my clients hire my services to assist them with securing their finances after messy divorces or with settling inheritance disputes. I deal with a great many angry spouses and spoiled adult children.”

              “Should get a guard or something,” he suggested.

              “I do—have security, that is, just not working today, obviously. Save my trusty crowbar.”

              Thom’s heart just about jumped out of his chest when there was a bloodcurdling _scream_ from the sitting room and he bolted to the girl’s side, shaking her a bit to rouse her,

              “Ellie, sweetheart-“

              She sat upright, gasping in breath before she screamed out, “No lo lastimes! Por favor, por favor—dejalo en paz! Lo siento, lo siento! Solo deja que sea seguro!” in a rush, shaking and crying, and-

              “Shhh shhh shhhh, hey, hey it’s okay Ellie-girl, it’s alright,” he promised, seating himself on the edge of the couch and wrapping his arms around her, “Everything’s alright.”

              “They- they- they h-h-hurt you, I was so scared!”

              “No one hurt me, sweetheart, did you have a bad dream about before?” she nodded, and he looked to his mother as he reassured the girl, “You kept me safe. Barrier, remember? His knife didn’t even touch me.”

               She sniffled, "K-kay. S-s-sorry-"

              “Oh honey, you’ve had a very long day,” Maggie said, crouching to be level with Ellie, “everything’s going to be alright. Thank you, for protecting my son. Protecting one another, that’s what family does—you protected him, and I promise you, I will protect you. Okay?” she made that clear, and Ellie nodded. “Good. Now…if you two feel up to it, I think we can wrap up here and head home, alright? _You_ need a bath little missy.”

              Oh Maker, she looked e _xcited_ about that, “A bath?”

              “Uh-huh,” Maggie assured, rising and looking to Thom, “You too mister—you stink to high heaven,” Oi! “I can’t believe this girl has put up with it this whole time.” Ellie giggled at that! Adorable little traitor she was!

              Mother did a run through of her office building, making sure all lamps were out, nothing was running in the kitchen, collected her briefcase from her actual work area and closed it up, locking the double doors that lead to her office space before joining Thom and Ellie at the entrance. Ellie’s hand was secure in his, and Russel was in her little pack again, and she offered up her free hand to his mother.

              So. Thom Rainier walked hand in hand with…with his little girl, and his mother, headed for home.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Non-Context explanatory Antivan/Orlesian Ciriane (Spanish/French)  
> Orale=it's basically a generic oath you use when you're stressed at something, like saying 'oh hell' or 'dang/damn it', alternatively it can be used like an affirmation, like 'oh yeah!' or 'really!' but that's not this situation my dudes.  
> Que=What?  
> Padres=parents, while Padre means father, padres (plural) is the term for two parents of any gender.  
> Hablas Antivan?=Do you speak Antivan?  
> Si. Quien eres tu?=Yes. Who are you?  
> Eres Ellie, si? Es eso corto para algo?=You're Ellie, yes? Is that short for something?"  
> Solo=just (only/singular)
> 
> Comment vas-tu?=How are you?  
> Je vais bien=I am well!
> 
> No lo lastimes! Por favor, por favor—dejalo en paz! Lo siento, lo siento! Solo deja que sea seguro!=Don't hurt him! Please please—leave him alone! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Just let him be safe!"
> 
> End Notes:
> 
> *Chandler is basically an person that works with wax products? They make candles, and bars of soap and all that jazz. 
> 
> *There are two, potentially three listed Universities in the Dragon Age universe, it depends on choices you make in earlier games if Ferelden has one. There's always for sure the University of Orlais, and the University of Markham.
> 
> *I made a 'whoops!' in To Seek the Truth and had Ellie discovering her magic far sooner than what is canon compliant in Dragon Age, for some reason I was left with the impression that Magic was discovered at all ages, more common in young people, and it is, just not in five year olds. I didn't realize I'd undershot a good age until several chapters later when I was reading up on Lyrium, so I just rolled with it. So! It's super uncommon for a kid Ellie's age to have active magic, in Tevinter because of how encouraged and nurtured their mage lines/potential mages are, magic crops up between the ages of 8 and 12. In other parts of the world, it more commonly pops up in puberty, usually around 12-15 years old.
> 
> *Ansburg is Markhams 'sister city'. It's the closest Circle, the other Free Marches Circle is in Ostwick. Ansburg is mentioned in To Seek the Truth as the Circle Ellie's mentor Ava escaped.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!


	2. A Host of Firsts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All the firsts! Thom Rainier's first day as an adult responsible for a small human life, Maggie's first anniversary of her daughter's death with her son home at last with this tiny Antivan child, Ellie's first birthday in the Rainier house, first Wintersend as a family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnnd here's chapter two!

              Half way through uptown is where the smoother brick-stamped pavement transitioned into harsher, worn cobblestone. Fine if you were wearing shoes and mindful of your step, but Thom’d forgotten the girl’s feet were unshod until she winced, catching a jagged lose stone in the softer tissue of her inner sole.

              “Whoops!” Maggie beat him by the barest of margins, bracing the girl to keep her from falling and then releasing her hand to take her up under her arms and seat her straddling her hip, announcing, “Up we go! Is this okay honey? We’ve got to mind your little feet,” she said, supporting the girl against her hip with one arm while using her free hand to tickle the toes of the foot in front of her, getting a giggle from Ellie and a good look at the bottom of her foot when reflex sent it upward, the little misstep hadn’t broken skin or anything.

              “Gracias Miss Thom’s-Mami!”

              …well. He supposed that worked? She was a Miss, and Thom’s uh, mother.

               _“You_  can call me Maggie,” his mother assured, pecking a kiss to the girl’s temple, and she nodded in agreement. That’d suit better he supposed. “I…I need to do a bit of grocery shopping? Do you two feel up to it or should I drop you off at home?”

              He remembered the way well enough, they could go their separate ways but…well, while the sun didn’t set until nearly nine this time of year, he hardly wanted her out all on her own, carrying groceries. “Ellie-girl, you up for a bit more shopping?”

              “Si!” she cheerily agreed. “What’s groceries?”

              Maker above. Give him strength.

              So, they taught Ellie all about groceries—she got it pretty quick, she knew there were markets where people bought food, she’d just never referred to them as groceries or been, er, shopping for them.

              “Alright, honey there’s a uh,” mother seemed uncertain if she should bring up the finer points of some of their food products in front of the girl, “B-u-t-c-h-e-r just across the street. I’ve already money in an account with them I keep funded so I don’t have to carry too much coin around on me. Just give them my name and pick whatever you’d like? For dinner, breakfast—go ahead and stock up for the week, there’s a cold chest at home.” Well damn.

              He felt strange, being given liberty to use his mother’s uhh, money. He was caught somewhere between his own pride and not wanting to hurt hers and…he’d…they’d work something out. He hardly wanted to be er, mooching off of his mother, they’d sit down and talk some things out once he had prospects, a clearer idea of what he was going to do about the future housing and career-wise. If they were going to stay with her for a while he’d pick up the bill somewhere, pay their way.

              Tonight though, steaks were on Maggie Rainier. Little bit of bacon, sausages…Ellie’d liked chicken so that made the cut…would she like fish? Liddy and him had liked it fried up when they were little ones.

              There was some kind of commotion by the stand across the street when he was done, Thom’s heart jumped in his chest as he caught the tail end of his mother  _screaming,_

               _“…unhand her!”_

              “Look, I don’t got a problem with you, but this little brat’s a damn thief-“ Thom heard as he pushed his way through the crowd, oh hell no. Some woman had- she had Ellie by her wrist, was pulling her off of mother’s hip but mother braced the girl by the forearm to keep her from being pulled away without risking the other woman yanking Ellie’s arm out of joint!

              “I don’t give a  _shit_ what this child stole—she’s a child, she was  _hungry_ ,” Maggie snapped, shouting, “Whatever she stole is hardly worth all this fuss, you take your Maker damned hands off her this instant before I break them!”

              “I’m really really sorry-“ Ellie offered. What the hell was going on? She didn't have anything in her hands that he could see, she wouldn't just take something, maybe this was some- oh. She hadn't always had two grown adults with her with money to spend. She'd been to Markham before, it wasn't like the girl was rolling in coin, of course she stole!

              “Don’t be sorry Ellie-girl,” Thom cut her off as he stepped up, close to his mother so this witch knew they weren’t alone. “No one knows just how blessed they really are, and it’s easy to judge others when they’ve fallen on harder times than you. You say this girl stole from you. Did you think maybe she had no one looking out for her at the time? That she might have been starving?”

              “It- it’s wrong to steal, the Maker says so,” Ellie piped up, looking to the woman still holding her wrist captive. “And I sh-should say sorry. I didn’t want to be mean to you, but I didn’t have any money, and I was very hungry. I didn’t know lots of stuff I know now—lots of food places throw away things they don’t sell, I should have gone there,” she said, and the woman finally removed her grip from Ellie’s wrist. “I’m sorry I stole your um…que…Mister Thom? It was green, like an apple but not an apple, softer.”

              “…a pear?” Thom asked, slowly dragging his gaze to meet the stall vendor’s gaze with all the absolute degradation-inducing disbelief he could muster. Seriously? Was this happening now? “Like that, Ellie-girl?” he pointed to the section of pears on the woman’s stand and the girl nodded. Well hell! It can’t have even been a big one, her hands were only little.

              “…you were eating out of the garbage?” the woman asked Ellie, aghast.

              “Uh-huh—it sounds yucky but it can be super super yummy if you get off the top as soon as it’s throw’d out!” she insisted, “But the pear was the yummiest! It made me so happy! I am really sorry I stole it though, and I’m sorry if it hurt you or made you sad.”

              “I’m sorry, I…a lot of brats come busting through here stealing from stands because they can, they think its funny or whatever, not because they have to. Usually they come back around here and I make it clear to them, their parents that they aren’t welcome and I expect repayment. I lumped you in with them. I’m sorry, Ellie? That’s your name, hun?”

              “Yup! What’s your name?”

              “Alice.”

              “That’s pretty!”

              Don’t tell her that her name’s pretty! Thom was still of half a mind to- to sue! Or trounce someone. Challenge this woman to a damn duel! Her and mother, one on one, see how she stacks up against a woman her own damn size!

              “Can you pay for my pear Mister Thom?” Ellie asked, offering, “I’ll pay you back!”

              He was pretty sure she could commit grand larceny and he’d gladly foot the bill, but, “With what money, sweet thing? You gonna go out and get a job?” Thom asked, amused.

              “I could! I can do lots of stuff! I can clean and cook as long as I can reach the stove—” she was absolutely not allowed anywhere near a stove, Maker! “I’m really good at chopping!” n-no knives either, good lord, “And I’m a good finder!”

              “Finder?”

              “Yeah my m- ummm,” she hummed for a moment before launching back into, “I’m really good at finding important things! Like things people lose and stuff!”

              “Maybe you can help me find my glasses,” mother said cheerily, taking Ellie’s recently freed hand and looking over her arm, rubbing at the red mark the woman left on her wrist. “I’m always losing those things.”

              “Sure Miss Maggie!”

              “I’m truly, very sorry Miss,” Alice said, “If I’ve hurt her, please, send me the bill for any Healer’s visits or anything. And I hope you’ll continue to do business here—please take whatever you like, on the house, your pear’s included hun, no one has to pay me back, consider it settled.”

              “How Andrasten of you,” Thom drawled. Glad it was settled but Maker that was a lot of fuss.

              Her pears didn’t even look that good!

              And Alice wasn’t  _that_ damn pretty of a name!

              He was pretty sure he was going to die mad about this, no matter how much free fruit she plied.

              But uh, it was a lot of fruit. Thom made sure to grab a few melons for Ellie-girl—because that girl deserved melons! The biggest, freshest melons! Not shitty little pears! And a few apples! How did you make apple juice? Mother seemed to keep it in stock somehow, so Ellie'd get her fix he supposed. Alice got a little forgiveness when she kindly offered the girl a strawberry to try to see if she liked them—she did, and they were a favorite of mother’s so, that was a done deal. And a bundle of grapes, which the vendor sold to them with the caution to cut them up and make certain the stems were detached to avoid, er, choking. Which they definitely did not want, so that was thoughtful.

              Thom breathed a sigh of relief as they moved through the crowded Market place, alongside mother, “Whew. For a minute there I thought I was going to have to bail you out of jail.”

              “It would have been worth it. Laying hands on a child, honestly,”…mother might die mad about it too.

              “I was talkin’ about Ellie-girl," he chortled.

              "I would never dream of considering my biggest failure as mother to be your sense of humor and yet you still test that idea."

              Mother’d been very serious about grocery shopping, he was almost worried they’d need to go find a wagon or something to help carry everything, but Ellie held on to the bag that held their fresh bread, and mother had their vegetables in a few bags she carried in her free arm, and Thom would be damned if he couldn’t carry the meat and fruit, eggs in his arms, slung a sack of potatoes over his shoulder for good measure. Plus his own shopping from earlier—couldn’t feel his damn hands by the time they made it home, bags weighing him down had cut off circulation but that was the cost of playing the game wasn’t it? Winners never quit and all that.

              He was, admittedly, very relieved, especially in his hands, to be home…they…they were home, right? Outside had been freshly painted, the door looked new, windows weren’t broken. It was the same set up, lay out inside but uh…definitely nicer. Couch wasn’t half-collapsed, the fireplace didn’t have that strange leakage running down the outside of it for whatever reason that used to be a thing. All the furniture was nice, been replaced over the years, soft rugs, the kitchen cabinets were in pristine condition, hell the pump in there actually  _worked_ now, and there was a large cold chest mother instructed he unload the meat and eggs into. Oh, it was little wonder they’d needed to grocery shop, there was an apple, a few oranges, and this tin of chocolate chip cookies that was mostly empty on the counter. Big carton of apple juice in the cold chest, he supposed it really was her favorite.

              “Bathroom’s just through there, and my bedroom is right off the kitchen, same as before,” Maggie said, giving them a bit of a tour once they’d set down their things. “and um…I...there's no more den, it's a guest bedroom now that you’re free to use, Thom." oh. Huh. Yeah, Liddy'd had a room, small but a proper bedroom, the door could lock, he'd make sure of it every night before he dared going to sleep, if he wasn't squeezing into bed alongside her, he definitely didn't want anyone mother'd had hanging around having access to Liddy's room at night, might've been little, but he wasn't out in out stupid. He used to sleep in the living room on the floor or the couch—what was now a bedroom used to be a uh...s'where mother and her friends would get high, boyfriends and their fellows would talk over all sorts of nonsense, plans for their various extra curricular activities. He was maybe seven when he figured out mother had him sleeping on the couch not because he was a 'big boy' and didn't need to sleep in his mother's bed or bunk with his kid sister, but because he was to man the door, be a guard of sorts, any authorities come knocking he'd be the one they'd wake, was to handle them and send them on their way, let her friends and things in. "Ellie can stay with you, or with me if you’d prefer but um. Well, it’s the same as before, but I have…replaced things over the years.”

              Oh. That was her very awkward way of saying there was a guest room, and then beside it…Liddy’s room. Something in him still felt queasy when he stood just outside the door, like if he pushed it open, he’d find her there, sick and dying, dead. But uh, no. No ghosts, just a small…surprisingly clean room. He’d almost expected unused rooms to gather dust, but mother obviously kept the house clean, Liddy’s room had been redone like the rest of the place, the window was even repaired—it used to not latch shut, he’d had to rig it with rope and glue and prayers to keep the chill out years ago. The bed was still small like…like mother had merely set the room up for Liddy again, just, the sort of room she’d deserved to have, instead of the one she’d actually lived and died in. Stout, sturdy wooden frame, new mattress, clean bedding.

              “What’d’you think, Ellie-girl?” Thom asked, the girl tentatively joined him, she’d kept her distance like she’d picked up on the mood. “Do you think you’d be comfortable in here?”

              “Really?” she breathed. “Wow. Are you sure?”

              “Positive sweetheart. I’d be right next door if you needed anything, Maggie’ll be just across the way.”

              “I- I um,” her chin quivered, and her breathing picked up, oh hell, he hadn’t meant to make her cry! “I’m s-sorry I don’t kn-know why I’m-“

              “Shh, it’s okay honey, you’re feeling a little overwhelmed, huh?” Maggie asked as she carefully approached and then crouched to be level with Ellie. “This is a lot of change for everyone, it’s okay to need a little cry to work through it. You’re safe here, this is your home for as long as we can provide it for you. Anything you need, we’re here for you, okay? Do you want a hug?” Ellie sniffled and nodded, “Come here,” the woman invited, wrapping her arms around her, “that’s a good girl. You’ve had a hard day. Why don’t we get you a bath, you can get nice and cleaned up before dinner?”

              Ellie looked a little bewildered at that, “D-dinner? We’re going to eat again?”

              Mother nodded, intoning, “As long as you live under this roof young lady, you’ll eat three meals a day, and you’ll like it.”

              “That’s so much meals!”

              That  _was_  so much meals. And Thom intended to take charge of dinner while mother saw to helping the girl bathe.

              He…he intended to, a great many things had changed for his mother over the years, but he wasn’t absolutely certain cooking had been one of them. The bathroom was nice, warm water could be drawn into the bath itself, so mother filled the tub and got Ellie in, but she called for Thom to bring the things he’d bought for bath time, he’d sat down on the couch to dig through his shopping bags and…well, it was a really nice couch.

              He woke up to the smell of steak and potatoes and carrots. And his shopping bags were gone but presumably in the bathroom or one of the bedrooms. His chest felt heavy, stomach too even as it rumbled at the smell of dinner though there was something else too, not food, not exactly—lavender. Like the shampoo and conditioner he’d bought earlier, he could smell it pretty strongly, and there was a hand carding through his hair, mother’s he realized when he opened his eyes.

              Chest felt heavy because he'd put on some extra weight as he slept. Ellie-girl was laying on him, clean, in her nightgown, out like a light, curled around Russel.

              He…he’d been in the military. He’d trained for, competed, and kicked as much ass as he could in the Grand Tourney. He shouldn’t be this damn exhausted after a single day with this girl, but he was pretty sure dinner be damned, he might fall back asleep any second now. He let out a yawn before blinking to clear his vision, there’d been a hand…his mother’s, running through his hair, oh. She was perched on the arm of the couch.

              “Tired?” she asked, sounding almost amused, and he nodded. “Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life. That little girl’s gonna run you ragged.” He might actually die. And somehow be okay with that. “Go wash your hands and come to dinner.”

              That…was another first. Mother calling him to dinner. He had vague memories of her tiredly slapping crackers or fruit on a plate and telling them to eat, she rarely ate with them. More clear memories, times when she was on some kind of high or in just…she’d get these moods where she was absolutely certain she was going to change, get them out of their situation, that one of her boyfriend’s cockamamie schemes were going to come through for them and she’d be just  _manic_ for days, cheery and light and babbling enthusiasm. She’d try doing ‘motherly’ things like making family dinner, it was usually food they couldn’t really afford that was practically a waste given she didn’t have experience to back up the practice, everything would be burnt or undercooked, haphazardly done because that’s just…she would  _be_ haphazard and everything that came from her ended up the same. Those would be nights she’d let him sleep in a proper bed, or lay in one at least, she’d keep him up chattering away, a litany promise after promise falling rapid fire from her lips for hours, that  _any day now_  everything would be okay, that she’d do better, be better, they’d never want for anything ever again, they could go somewhere else, have a fresh start, live a simple life maybe somewhere out in the country in the open air, wouldn’t that be good for Liddy? And any day later, things were back to the way they were, him scraping together food for him and Liddy, mother either all out ignoring them or barely offering the blandest form of detached recognition that they were even alive.

              And now…well she’d clearly learned how to cook, damn well. Steak, medium-rare, just how he liked it—apparently he might’ve been out, but his stomach wasn’t, mother laughingly reported that when she started prepping dinner, she tried waking him to ask how he’d like his steak cooked, and he’d answered in his sleep. Ellie scrunched her nose up at his meal, said all the red stuff was ‘yicky’ but she was a child through and through, eating the littler cut of meat he’d gotten her well-done, practically burned but that was apparently what made it ‘yummy’. Maybe he should’ve gotten a bigger cut for her, she’d been bewildered at the thought of another meal, but she ate every last bite on her plate, mother readily scooping seconds of vegetables onto it, more slices of buttered bread that she gobbled right up, they’d no leftovers to speak of, Thom even spared her a few of his carrots.

              When they finished, Ellie was practically reclining in her seat, looking like she might fall asleep again, “My tummy is so full. It’s the fullest. That was so good miss Maggie!”

              “I’m glad you enjoyed it honey,” mother said, smiling warmly as she tucked a loose wet ringlet of hair back behind the girl’s ear. “Now, comes the fun part,” she offered with jovial sarcasm, rocking back in her seat, ready to pitch forward and rise to see to the dishes.

              “I’ve got it, mom,” Thom stopped her, rising and stacking Ellie’s plate on top of his before picking it and his mother’s plates up. “You cooked, I’ll clean up.”

              “Oh,” she smiled, “um, thank you sweetheart.”

              “I can help!” Ellie volunteered, “I’m a super good scrubber! And the best dryer!”

              “The best?” mother challenged, “We’ll see about that little girl! Thom—you wash, and Ellie and me will have a little dry-off.”

              The girl  _snorted_ , giggling up a little storm at that, clearly amused with, “Dry off.”

              So they did, Thom washed, passed a dish to mother, washed, passed to Ellie who sat on the countertop, and when they were done, mother stashed the silverware away in the drawer, and Ellie held onto the stack of clean plates while Thom hoisted her up to put them away on a cabinet shelf.

              “Um…” the girl ventured when they were done. “I…I have some um, q-questions?”

              “Well, I’d be happy to answer them for you if I can,” he said, scooping her up off the counter and heading for the couch, mother sat on one end, he on the other, sitting Ellie down between them…where was Russel? Ah, Thom was seated on the bear, he quickly shifted to free the poor thing and shook him a bit before Ellie’s gaze, pleased it got her to smile, she looked rather serious.

              “What’s on your mind, honey?” mother asked.

              “I’m…I’m really staying here? You…you know I’m a m-mage right?” she gulped, nervous, “You aren’t scared?”

              “Of you?” Thom asked, “Not in the slightest.”

              “What if I did scare you, accidentally h-hurt-“

              “Sweetheart, as long as it was an accident? We would have to just let things happen and see how best to move forward in the moment,” mother supposed, “You’d never hurt us intentionally?”

              “Oh gosh! Never ever! I’d only ever um d-do something like today—I am sorry I cast on you without asking Mister Thom,” Ellie apologized, “I panicked, it- that’s why I’m asking about accidental magic. Cause um…it was an accident, I swear, I’d never put magic on someone without them being okay with it.”

              It…it was an  _accident?_ “Well honey, if that was an accident, it’s definitely a happy one,” Thom offered, “I appreciate what you did to protect me.”

              “Magic wanted to keep you safe, it thinks you’re very nice. That’s why it said to go with you last night.”

              … “Your uh, magic…talks to you?”

              “Asi-asi,” she supposed, “Not with words. it um…it’s always seeing everything I see? We can have different feelings on things, and it watches out for me. Like when I first saw the mean men you saved me from? I thought they might be nice—the talky one, he had a very kind smile. But magic warned me not to trust them, that I needed to get as close to the wall as possible.”

              “It told you to back up into a corner?” Thom worried, that didn’t sound like ‘looking out for her’ at all.

              “Uh-huh. There was a hole—the big trash bin nearby? There was space enough for someone me-sized to squeeze through, and a hole behind it that goes into the kitchens. Right, left, then right again and I could run through the bakery, out the front door to safety. I was going to run but then you came and I was scared they might hurt you so I stayed.” And then, “Oh! Miss Maggie! I’m sorry, I almost forgot!” she said, scooting herself off of the couch to get down on the floor, half-disappearing underneath the couch as she reached and then she came back up, spectacles in hand. “Here!”

              “So you _are_ a good finder,” mother supposed, pleasantly surprised as she tucked her glasses to hang on the collar of her blouse.

              “I’m not upset that you cast on me earlier, Ellie-girl. As long as you’re only throwing Barrier at me, I’ve got no complaints,” Thom assured, “But keep in mind honey, those men might have seen you—I don’t think they did, but if we were ever in another situation like that, I would want you to put your own safety first. Part of your safety, is keeping the fact you’re a mage under wraps.”

              “Wraps?”

              “Secret,” he clarified, and she nodded that she understood.

              “So…you aren’t going to send me away? Or to a Circle or anything?”

              “No,” Thom promised. “I was serious about what I said earlier sweetheart. As long as you’re happy here, you’re free to stay. I’ll help your magic look out for you, huh? Keep you safe.”

              “Kay…um…is there anything I’m supposed to do? I’m a good cleaner, and cook-“

              “Mmmm how about the rules that apply to us, apply to you?” Thom proposed, “I’ll be cleaning up after myself. So, you just do the same for you, within reason of course, if you ever needed help, simply ask, alright? You don’t have to do anything to have a home here—you’re a kid.”

              She nodded that she understood, but still, “If you change your mind-“

              “We have your resume memorized,” mother assured, amused.

              “So…what am I supposed to um…I mean what do I do? Just stay here?” she wondered. Ahh. he supposed her schedule seemed pretty void now that she didn’t have to dedicate every waking moment to wondering where she was going to find the next meal or bit of shelter.

              “Well…you need a proper education, I think. Learn to read and write, those sorts of things. I don’t have the finer details worked out yet,” he confessed, “but we’ll figure something out.”

              “You’d teach me how to read?” she asked, surprised.

              “I can certainly help you, don’t know if I’m cut out for full on teaching, but I think…for now it’d be best to catch you up to speed with other children your age, at home. I’d help you, and I’ll look into getting a tutor, someone who could come wherever we live and teach you things. Once you’re on uh…grade level?” he supposed, “We’d talk about schooling.”

              “Really?!” she squeaked at that.

              “It would likely be best for you to be around other children your age,” mother agreed, “and it would be rather suspicious if we kept you cooped up all the time, neither would that be very healthy.”

              Ellie nodded. “Sorry, I don’t mean to sound um, like I don’t have thanks for this.”

              She seemed to just be thinking. Wracking something around in her brain, so he let her think…besides, while she worked on what was inside her head, he should probably see to what was outside it. He could still smell the lavender of her shampoo, conditioner, but,

              “Do you want Maggie to finish up your hair, hun?” he asked, pulling gently at a tuft of her hair.

              “Oh!” Ellie chirped, “Gosh I forgot! Aceite de coco!” she giggled, “I can get it?”

              “Sure thing sweetheart, go ahead,” Thom nodded and the girl hopped off the couch pattering away to the bathroom.

              “What does Maggie need to do with her hair?” mother wondered.

              “Her hair might be Ferelden red but it’s just as wild as Liddy’s,” Thom chuckled though uh, that died in his throat at the blank stare that got him. “You know? It’d get so dry and brittle it’d break off like mad. Takes careful washing, lots of moisturizing. Coconut oil’s basically a necessity. That Alice woman was so upset over some fruit? When I was Ellie’s age I was pinching coconut oil, lotion whenever I could.”

              Mother cleared her throat, looking overwhelmed for a moment and when Ellie came back out of the bathroom she cleared her throat and looked to the girl smiling up at her, holding out the jar of coconut oil, “Um, honey I’m sorry I…would you mind if Thom helped you?”

              “Oh,” the girl deflated a bit, like maybe she was worried she’d done something to offend the woman, “Um, if- if he’s okay with it?”

              “’course I am, hop on up here Ellie-girl, I’ll get you sorted,” he jumped in, Ellie did as told, seating herself before him and holding Russel in her lap. Oh, “Mom, you wouldn’t happen to have a comb we could use? Wide-toothed?”

              “Oh! Yes, I do,” the woman said, rising and dashing into her bedroom while Thom uncapped the jar, she was just making certain there wasn’t any hair caught in the implement as she came and handed it off to Thom, and then she sat at the end of the couch and watched carefully as he worked with the girl’s hair, sectioning it out and detangling as he worked oil into it, it looked so much better, clean, curl pattern showing through already, ringlets of hair instead of dry fluff.

              “Gracias!” she enthused, bouncing a bit in her seat.

              “No problem sweetheart,” Thom assured.

              “I have a few things to look over before bed,” mother excused herself, “If either of you need anything at all, let me know.”

              As many naps as the girl had been subjected to, Ellie already seemed ready for sleep herself, “Sorry,” she yawned out as Thom took her up, to carry her to bed, “I slept a bunch.”

              “We’ve all had a pretty wild day,” Thom said as he pulled back the covers and sat her down, made sure she was secure under the blankets, comfortable, Russel too. “All ready for sleep? Do you need anything at all? I’ll just be right next door,” he promised. She nodded but worried at her lip, like she’d something she wished to say but was nervous to bring up, “Any other questions sweetheart? Anything we can say to ease your worries?” Thom wondered.

              “I’m…I don’t want to sound not happy or not um, grateful?” she worried, “But why?”

              “Why what?”

              “Why would you do all of this for me?” she wanted to know.

              …well, that was a uh, a real good question. There was some part of him screaming in the back of his brain telling him all of this was crazy and foolish and insane. But…she was just a child. Sent away at every turn because of something out of her control. She couldn’t just be dropped off at an orphanage and he wasn’t going to have the girl  _imprisoned_ against her will. And he couldn’t just…he couldn’t just  _know_ she was out there, all on her own. She had her magic, but all children deserved to be truly safe, loved. She deserved to have that if she could, and he…hadn’t the foggiest just how exactly that would pan out, but if he could provide that for her, he would. He…

              “I spent a lot of my youth looking out for myself. I wish someone had done as much for me, when I was your age, seen the help I needed and provided it. I never felt safe, I was always worried and scared, terrified of what could possibly happen next.”

              Ellie’s forehead wrinkled at that, “Really?” she asked. “I um…that’s how I feel lots of the time. I’m sorry you felt that way. Are you still scared now, Thom?”

              Absolutely terrified. But he was capable, and he could handle this. So, “No, not like I was, not anymore.”

              “How come?”

              “Well…I grew up. Met some incredible people along the way that helped me along, better myself. I’d like to be that person for you.”

              “You knew your mami when you were little, didn’t she help?” Ellie asked.

              “She did, from time to time. I wouldn’t’ve been born without her after all, but uh…my mami was very sick, when I was young. Like the woman we saw today, at her office?”

              “Ohh,” Ellie nodded. “I’m sorry she was too sick to be a mami when you were little.”

              “Me too,” he said, patting her head, “but, we’re all here now. Do you want a story or anything?”

              “Can I have a hug, please?”

              Well, she did say please. So, he wrapped her up in as tight a hug as he dared, dropping a kiss to her hair, “Have sweet dreams, Ellie-girl.”

              “You too!”

              Well, he’d see about that. Somehow he felt absolutely exhausted, and too keyed up to sleep. He checked the window in the girl’s room just to make certain it was secure, before he left her, left the door opened just a crack in case she needed anything. He went to check if the front door was locked, only to find it hanging open a bit, and he popped his head out  just to- oh, if he’d just closed and locked it, he’d have locked Maggie out, and that’d be poor return for her hospitality, huh? She was just off the stoop, a cigarette in hand as she exhaled a puff of smoke. She did a bit of a double take as she noticed him, offering up a rueful grin,

              “One of my last vices. Aside from chocolate,” she explained.

              He nodded. He got that. He’d prefer her turning to a cigarette at the end of a hard day than something much harder. “Thank you, for everything today,” he said. She nodded but uh…huh, it was dark out, no real light except the moon, but it looked like she might have been crying. “Are you alright?”

              Her chin quivered at that, and she sniffled, rubbing her nose with the palm of her cigarette armed hand, “I um…I never did your sister’s hair, did I?” she asked.

              …surely she must have, hadn’t she? He…well he couldn’t rightly remember. “I’m sure-“

              “I don’t remember anything about…I mean all I know about hair is what I do with my own—shampoo, dab of conditioner once in a while, done. I thought you picked up coconut oil for cooking something, putting it in a dessert or- I thought it was strange it was with all her bathing things,” she laughed mirthlessly. “I’m sorry. Today has been strange, I barely expected you to show up and then-“

              “It uh, brings a lot back for me too,” he said.

              “I can’t make up for it, you know? The things I’ve done. it will never matter how much I do moving forward, I’ll still have done them. Neglected you, your sister. Lost my baby because I was too caught up in my own garbage. She was so sick, and I was doing everything wrong, and if I could forget that and keep forgetting it, somehow that’d make it better.”

              He wanted to say she’d done her best, but that was habit, and a lie, and it’d be wrong of him to say now. Uh. He’d just been a kid, hadn’t known any better then, but…he’d always been there to offer excuses, bail her out. He’d enabled her. The one damn time he wasn’t around to bail her out, it’d set her on the right path. It had helped her more to lack his help then. “You can’t make up for it. Helping one little girl doesn’t take away from the fact you didn’t help the other. But uh…at least you helped someone, right? We…I get this, being hard, mom. You’re doing incredibly and I don’t want to mess that up for you—I really appreciate you letting us spend the night, I’ll look at listings first thing and-“

              “Oh honey, I wasn’t- sweetheart, you can stay for as long as you need. I’m not falling off the wagon or anything, just…I’m sorry. And saying sorry isn’t enough, you know? I have so many regrets. And the thing about regret is its something you always live with, that always sticks with you…so much I know when I’m looking in the face of something that will just add to that list, and sweetheart when I look at you,” she sniffled, “oh, when I look at that little girl, I know. I won’t have a single regret. I  _don’t_  have a single regret about the man you are today. I’m so proud of you, everything you’ve ever done, everything you’re going to do.”

              “I’m proud of you too.”

              “If…if you do decide you want your own place someday, I understand. But know this house is always yours. Alright?”

              He nodded. He’d…have to think on it some more, but yeah. “Thank you.”

              “There are a few ground rules,” she informed him. “I- smoking is the only allowance I make, and never in the house. Um. And no drinking—you’re free to go wherever you like, unwind or have fun with friends, but I ask you not bring any alcohol into the house.”

              Oh! “Of course,” he nodded. “Thanks for letting me know.”

              “I’ve changed the locks over the years, I’ll get you a key first thing tomorrow. I work weekdays from my office, I leave every morning at seven, I get back here at all hours of the night but I’ll…while you’re here, I do want to be more available. So, I’ll try to be home for dinner—close up at five, be home around six? I go to meetings every Wednesday dutifully, but it’s also an ‘as needed’ thing, I’ll always let you know where I’m going. And I teach evening classes at the University on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I also regularly attend Chantry on Sunday mornings.”

              Thom nodded. “Ellie uh, she’d love going to Chantry, I think. I’ll run it by her, we’d have to make sure it’d be safe for her to attend, but a few hours every Sunday, as long as they have no reason to suspect…” it was dead out, but still, “anything, I think that’d be nice.”

              “That…I’d like that,” mother said. “Um…this Wednesday I’ll be off schedule. No work, no meeting unless I need it.”

              Wednesday? Oh.The 24th. Liddy’s day. He nodded. “You have things you do?”

              Mother nodded. “It isn’t pretty but it’s how I deal. If um…if you want to take Ellie out or if you have your own…”

              “I uh, don’t dwell much on the day of her death,” he confessed. “I have a little thing I do when her birthday rolls around.”

              The woman smiled at that, “That’s sweet,” she said softly. “Alright,” she sighed, dropping her half-finished cigarette to the ground putting it out under the toe of her shoe. “I think I’ll wash up and head for bed. Do you need anything?”

              “All good. See you in the morning.” If uh, if he could wake up. Maker he was exhausted.

              But sizzling bacon is a powerful thing, Maker help him. It was strange to wake up feeling so rested…lighter somehow. To the smell of breakfast and the sound of his mother’s voice speaking quietly, warm, to the reply of Ellie’s sweet giggling.

              The door to his room sung open, little feet pattering across the floor before and he smiled when a small hand had to grip at his arm for support as its owner pulled herself up into bed with him, "Buenos días, Mister Thom! Your mami made breakfast!" she announced as she finished her climb, falling onto his chest. That sorted, he wrapped his arms around her.

              "Did she?" he asked.

              "Uh-huh, are you hungry?"

              "Uh-huh," he supposed, sighing contentedly, not making any effort to get up and do anything about it. She wriggled a bit in his hold after a minute,

              "Mister Thom! We have to go to breakfast! I have to eat three meals everyday, your mami said so! It's the rules!"

              "It's the _rules?"_ he asked with mock incredulity, "Well we better get a move on then."

              First day of the rest of his life, huh? The nights exhaustion was well worth it if it meant mornings like this.

 

* * *

             Maggie Rainier was a woman who lived with many regrets. As was to be expected when you led a life full of them, like a forest fire consuming everything in its path until there is nothing left and it burns itself out. She’d built herself back up in the wake of her own destruction, built a new life, but there were things she carried with her from the old that she could never put down.

              Nothing could make up for her mistakes—she hadn’t known how to even begin being a mother when she had Thom. He’d…Liddy was more blessing than she deserved, she hadn’t appreciated that enough. But Thom had been a blessing of a child from the moment he was born. She’d been so young and overwhelmed, hadn’t the first idea of how to be a mother, and he just…made it so easy. A child who looked into his mother’s eyes and understood she was just a child too. The Maker gave her one of the simplest children to raise, he hardly ever caused a fuss, been so independent even when he was just tiny. And then she’d gotten pregnant again, and Thom made that easy too. Oh he’d doted on Liddy the very moment he knew of her existence—it was the most troublesome he’d been in his life, constantly following Maggie around, always underfoot wanting to talk to the baby, and Maker, the very moment he realized he could feel the babe kicking, she’d lost all sense of personal space, he was constantly checking on her, excited how strong his baby sibling was. Once she was actually out, alive in the world? Thom’d basically picked his baby sister up, and never set her back down. But all the stresses, the worries and pressure she felt, being the sole person responsible for two little people who depended on her, they added up, she’d been alone…at least she’d been void of all sound guidance, and unable to cope. The love-ached resentment that she couldn’t just be a teenager, that she  _had_ to take care of two children. And then she’d found escape, with the friends that did surround her…men that saw a young girl with clear evidence she’d…Thom’s conception had not been so much her choice, but something that happened to her, but Liddy’s had come from more ideal circumstances. She was eighteen with a five year old and a newborn, and found herself the interest of several older boys. She found it flattering and exciting at the time, thought she was special. The drugs certainly helped that idea, just how wonderful it all was. and then when Liddy got sick she told herself everything she was doing was to help her child—she got so sick herself when she went without her own ‘medicine’ and she couldn’t provide for her children if she was sick, could she? Couldn’t think straight, couldn’t plan, figure out how to ‘hit it big’ get enough money to get her child the help she needed. She kept telling herself, lying to herself, every day she said the next would bring the answers they needed to all their problems. And then Liddy stopped having next days. And then her next days stopped seeing her son at her side. At it was all entirely her own fault.

              So, for 372* days of the year since the year since her sobriety, Maggie Rainier led herself with purpose, poured everything into friend, ally, addict, accountant, professor. And one day a year, she did nothing, absolutely nothing, but sit with her regret, allow herself to fully face it, like a  release after holding everything in, tight and taught, the rest of the year. For her, that day was Justinian 24th.

              “Is your mami okay?” a little voice asked. It sounded like Thom was in the kitchen, looking about through the pots and pans to find whatever he was looking for to whip up some breakfast. She wouldn’t be hungry, she didn’t think, it almost felt strange there was someone in the house to cook on this day.

              “Of course she is little love.”

              “She isn’t up yet," she asked, sniffling a bit, "is she sick?” she wasn't, but it sounded like maybe the might be coming down with something. She'd had a little bit of a cold the past few days.

              “No honey, she’s just…a little sad, I think.”

              “Can we do anything?”

              “I don’t think so, but that’s okay. People need to be sad sometimes, you know? We’ll check on her in a little while.”

              “You should hug her!” Ellie enthused, “You’re really good at it! And I can bring her apple juice—oh! Can you cut up some melon please? Your mami likes melon right?”

              “Sure sweetheart.”

              The girl let out a giggle at that, “Liddy likes melon too!” and then the girl let out a startled shriek when a frying pan clattered to the floor with a  _bang._ Maggie sat up in bed, listening.

              “I’m sorry, what?” Thom asked sharply, startled.

              “L-Liddy? She came to see me last night. She’s so pretty!”

              “She…came to see you?” Thom questioned breathlessly in disbelief. And then more firmly, “This…that isn’t funny, Ellie. It isn’t kind to make up stories like that.”

              “I…I’m not making it up, honest. I saw her while I was asleep. She- you know her?” Ellie asked, and after a beat, “I promise I’m not lying. I saw her, she’s got really really long hair, like mine but dark like yours? And really pretty brown eyes! Um, her right one had this cute little fleck in it? Her skin was darker than mine and she’s got this dark freckle or something right here on her cheek. She said she used to live in my room but she’s happy I live there now. And that you’re back—she said you haven’t been back for years and years.”

              “…al-alright, I’m sorry, I believe you Ellie-girl.”

              “You used to call her Liddy-girl!” Ellie cheerily enthused, “She said she liked it, it always made her feel loved and safe, you always made her feel loved and safe. She’s really happy you do the same for me. We talked a bunch. That’s why I wanna check on your mami.”

              She…wasn’t certain what to do with any of that, but she certainly wasn’t setting foot out of bed until she collected herself, her throat burned, eyes stinging as she cried, pressing a hand over her mouth to quiet her crying. Thom was very quiet, except the distinct sound of a knife hitting a chopping board, the soft plunk of fruit being dropped into a bowl piece by piece. And then Ellie let out a surprised giggly squeak, and Maggie laid down with her back to the door just a moment before it swung open.

              “Mother?”

              “Miss Thom’s Maaaami,” Ellie’s voice was sing-song as her weight was deposited on the bed, the girl bouncing across as she came and curled  up against Maggie, sitting with her arms crossed on the elder woman’s side, chin resting on her arms. “Hi.”

              She sat up, pulling the girl into her lap with the motion, “Good morning, sweetheart,” she greeted, carding a hand through the girl’s hair. “I um…I heard you say you dreamed about Liddy? I hope you weren’t scared.”

              The girl shook her head ‘no’, “I have something to tell you, is that okay?” and when Maggie nodded the girl hugged her around her middle, head against the woman’s chest as she hugged her so very tight, “Liddy says, ‘I love you mommy, and I don’t want you to be sad’. She wanted to tell you, but she couldn’t reach you, you mostly go to her room to cry, but sometimes you’ve fallen asleep in there, but you couldn’t hear her. She was so excited to see me when she tried again last night! ‘cause I’m a m-mage? She’s happy, and safe, and she’ll be waiting when you’re ready! She’s so proud of all the things you do, and she wants to hear all about them when you’re together again. So keep doing great, kay?”

              “Kay,” Maggie whispered back, pressing her lips to the top of the girl’s head. Oh, oh Maker. How exactly had she come to deserve this? She hadn’t let herself believe for even a minute her son would actually respond to her letters, when he didn’t write her back, that was exactly what she expected. She didn’t blame him before, but she certainly didn’t blame him now, Maker, she- she cast him from his  _home_. She never  _dreamed_ her boy would come home, not to see her. And then he…he shows up, comes barging into her office carrying some strange child, and she- she had a little girl around again. Now this child was a mage, and that came with complications, she had anxieties about her future, but she’d- she was able to bring a level of comfort to this regret she never thought she’d have. Something about it, how even after her mother had lost her she still wanted to comfort her…and that was just like Liddy. Children loved so blindly, so purely, and they were so susceptible to utter betrayal.

              She would never repeat the mistakes of her past. She would carry those regrets every day, for the rest of her life, if they kept her from doing so. Oh Maker, she would protect this girl with everything she had.

              Thom seemed almost awkward as he set a tray on the end of the bed, bearing a glass of apple juice and a large bowl of orange melon. He swallowed nervously, avoiding all eyecontact as he asked, “Did…did she say anything about me?”

              “Come hug your mami!” Ellie ordered, and the man chuckled a bit, seating himself on the edge of the bed and wrapping his arms around Maggie and Ellie, and the little Antivan turned about in Maggie’s lap to wrap her arms around Thom’s neck, “She wanted you to know that she loves you so much, and the flowers made her smile—all of them, she was so happy when you came back and had a new one for her, she was just sorry you were so sad because you thought your mami already sent her away. Her body was gone but she was still there. She stayed with you for as long as she could until the Maker called her to His side. But she sees—the flowers you leave her? She loves them lots, that you send them with things for her.”

              So. Ugly crying usually happened closer to the afternoons on her off days, but this was rather a different off day. For the first time in decades she could hold her boy as he cried—he was a great deal taller than her now, but seated as they were, she could get his head tucked under her chin, rubbing circles on his back.

              It took a few moments to realize there was no longer a small child in their group hug—their group hug was now merely a hug. Though Thom realized it as well and it had him sitting back to search for her.

              She was on the end of the bed, hugging Russel, popping bites of melon into her mouth.

              Maggie…oh Maker, this day, and she was laughing. “I thought that was for me?”

              “We knew she was a fruit thief when we took her in, we were warned,” Thom supposed.

              “I was…taste testing? To make sure it was yummy for you! And it is!” Ellie was glad to report.

              “Oh, come here sweet girl,” Maggie invited, the girl readily crawling to sit in her lap again, and Thom pulled the tray closer to be in reach, “I’m not very hungry—sit with me and help me eat all this?”

              Thom sat with them while they ate, stealing a few bites of melon for himself and he took the tray to the kitchen to clean up, returning to ask if they needed anything before he washed up.

              Neither of them were prepared for the announcement that, before he used the bathroom for a considerable amount of time to bathe,

              “Necesito hacer popo!” she declared, bouncing off the bed and stumbling, catching herself in the door way as she raced toward the bathroom.

              “What’s that Ellie girl?” Thom questioned.

              “Sabes que!” the girl called back, “I have to  _poop!”_

              Laughter bubbled up in Maggie’s throat, oh Maker. “You um, you can wash up a bit in the wash basin if you want to avoid the aftermath,” she offered, gesturing to the stand on the side of her room.

              “Thanks, I think I’ll take you up on that, I’m in a bit of a rush,” he admitted, holding up an index finger to give him just a moment as he disappeared, dashing off to his room and returning with his shaving kit. Ahh, he was getting a bit scruffy she supposed. “I um…I have an interview.”

              “A job interview?” Maggie asked, surprised. She shouldn’t have been, but she thought he might take a bit more time. “That’s great sweetheart—I mean that’s wonderful, but you know you can take all the time you’d like, I-“

              “You’re not footing the bill for us. I’ve still some money saved up, but that’ll be worked through soon enough. I…I hardly want to argue over the finer details today, but as long as Ellie and I live here, I want to contribute. Groceries, help out with any bills at the very least,” he rattled off as he wet his face, began spreading shaving cream along his jaw, “I uh…I have a few different prospects lined up, but I’m hoping my experience in the military, Tourney, it’ll help me get a position with the guard.”

              “Really?” she asked…genuinely surprised, and with every reason to be. “Thom Rainier, working with the guard?”

              “Yeah, well, all things considered, I think it’d be wise. Good position to be in—they work in close correlation to the Templars, keep appraised to any movements as far as hunting down apostates, the guards report suspicious potential mage activity and the like to them, I’d be in a good spot to get a heads up if they get suspicious of Ellie, to stop investigations before they start.”

              Maggie nodded, that was sound thinking, “You’d be happy, working with the guard?”

              Thom seemed to consider it as he shaved, “I think so. I like the idea I could help keep people safe, I enjoy a good fight, and it’ll take a load off all of our minds I think. And it’s a paycheck, comes with benefits from the city—health care and the like for you, Ellie-girl once I’ve custody of her.”

              “I’m very proud of you,” Maggie told him.

              “Thank you,” he murmured softly, cleaning up left over cream from his face, “You’ll be okay with Ellie? I’m sorry, I know today is hard. It was the day they scheduled me for and I didn't want to start off on the wrong foot requesting a change. I could always take her along for the interview, ply a bit of guilt, having the mouth I have to feed staring them in the face, poor thing still hasn't shaken that cold.”

              “Oh, they might hire you on the spot,” she thought, but, “we’ll be just fine.”

              He nodded, “Good, I'll be back this afternoon. I've got my interview and then I'll swing by somewhere on my way back and pick up some cold medicine for Ellie-girl.”

              Though he nearly ended up taking the girl with him—when she returned from her bathroom misadventures with a clean bottom and hands she promised, she became something of a necklace for the man. Arms wrapped around his neck, hanging off of him to his amusement, and…oh. She was very serious, she made enough she could stand supporting them all for a while, indefinitely if he wanted to be, er, a stay-at-home-father. It wasn't like she'd not robbed him of a childhood, she'd hardly supported him then, she could, and felt she should, support him now, as much as she could. He clearly didn’t want to leave the girl, holding on to her and murmuring assurances against her hair—that he would be back as soon as he possibly could, and he’d be so proud of her being a good girl for Maggie while he was gone, and Ellie and Russel could look out for his ‘mami’ while he was out.

              “I’ll miss you,” Ellie admitted quietly, “Be safe, okay?”

              “Oh sweetheart, I’ll miss you too. But I’ll be right back, I promise. Have fun with Maggie, okay?”

              She wasn’t entirely sure just how she would keep the girl entertained…but when Thom did at last take his leave, Ellie just crawled into bed with Maggie. “Mister Thom says you need to be sad today, that you sit with your sadness? I thought I could sit with you.”

              So, they did. Maggie settled back against her pillows, the girl curled up against her, and they laid together in silence, occasionally drifting off, dozing. An upgrade from previous years, but the regular deal of staying in bed until she absolutely had to rise.

              This year, ‘absolutely had to rise’ came not from the need to smoke, or pace, or cry in some other part of the house, but from a rumbling tummy, Ellie was glad to ignore the sound, continue laying in relative silence but Maggie was hardly going to let it stand. She could be sad and cook, she figured. She…might try to whip up some soup, it was a bit warm for it, but the girl had been sniffling all morning. There’d been a bit of crying all around, but it sounded like she had a stuffy head. She got some chicken baking in the oven, chopped up some carrots to throw in with some chicken stock left over from the winter months, jarred up in the back of one of her cabinets and she got that simmering. She didn’t have any cold medicine she didn’t think, maybe when Thom got home she could send him out for some, she wished she thought to mention it before. It was always good to have basic things on hand, but they should make certain just…having a little one around, it’d be wise.

              “Hey,” she was still in Maggie’s bed, dozing, the woman rubbed circles on her back, “I made some lunch? Soup.”

              The girl pushed herself up to sit on her knees, rubbing sleep from her eyes before letting out a hacking cough into her elbow, “Thanks miss Maggie.”

              “Are you feeling okay?” she worried, sitting on the edge of the bed she raised a hand to feel at her forehead, oh, she felt a bit warm, feverish, and she was a little pallid. “You know what? Breakfast in bed is nice but lunch in bed? That’s where the real fun is. You just stay right here sweetpea and I’ll be back.”

              The girl was grateful for the meal, taking on ginger sips of broth, a few solid bites, but most of her food stayed in the bowl, “I’m sorry, it’s really great. I just um, my tummy feels sick.”

              “Do you think you might throw up?” she asked, resting a hand on the girl’s back, and she nodded shyly, embarrassed. “It’s okay honey, come on. I’m gonna take you to the bathroom, alright?” she asked, taking up their tray of food and sitting it on the end table before the filled up her arms with the girl and as much bedding she could drag along with them so they could set up in the bathroom, putting her comforter down on the hard floor before seating herself near the latrine, Ellie in her lap. At least until the girl was retching into the toilet until her stomach was empty. She sat back to catch her breath, seemed to struggle with doing just that, coughing harshly until thick bile came up.

              “Oh honey, it’s okay, it’s okay, shhh,” Maggie soothed, rubbing circles on her back, and she turned to face her, the girl rested her head on the woman’s shoulder, catching her breath in wheezing gasps. “What can I do? Sweetheart?”

              “I-,” the girl let out a series of hacking coughs peppered with harsh gasps for air like she couldn’t’ pull enough into her lungs, “M- M- I c-can’t-“

             Oh, oh no. Ellie- she- the girl was choking, coughing harshly around gasps for breath that she couldn’t quite catch, hyperventilating, “Ellie? Sweetheart what’s- oh no no no no no,” she couldn’t breathe! What-

              She didn’t know what to do but take the girl up in her arms and  _run,_ nearly tripping over the comforter as she fled the bathroom, bolting into the street, screaming, _“Help!_ Help I need help, we need a Healer!” calls and cries pouring up from her throat as she ran up the street, oh where did- surely there was someone, there- there was a Healer on...oh hell what was that street and which Maker damned direction was it-

              “Miss Rainier?” someone called out, waving her over- oh! Oh maybe there was someone on her street after all.

              “Cyril!” Maggie cried out in surprise as the man approached, coming out of his parents house, oh they lived just up the block, but, “W- we need a Healer-“

              “I’m a medic,” he assured, looking to the girl in her arms, “oh, what happened?”

              “I don’t know, she- she’s had a cold and then she started vomiting and coughing up bile and she- she can’t breathe-“

              “Give her here, come on,” he instructed, taking the girl from her hold, “Mother!” he called into the house as they entered, Maggie following right on his heels, “bring me my medical kit and put the kettle on now!”

              He laid the girl down on the couch and his mother was quick to bring his kit. He pulled out vials of Elf root tonic and- and these red and green flowers, what good were flowers right now?!

              He pressed one of the blossoms to Ellie’s nose and mouth, “Sweetheart I need you to focus, and breathe—get these into the pot, bring it here the moment it starts to steam,” he intoned to his mother as he passed off the other blossoms and a bottle of Elf Root tonic, “What’s her name?” he asked Maggie.

              “E-Ellie. Can you help her?”

              “I’ll certainly try,” he promised, “Ellie, my name is Cyril. You’re doing so good sweetheart, that’s it, I know it hurts but it should help soon, just keep breathing, in and out, you’ve got this.”

              It all felt like such a blur. Maggie sank down to sit on the floor and just watched, could barely breathe herself from the sheer panic.

              She’d never felt relief like she did in the moment she finally refocused, because she- Ellie wasn’t gasping so harshly for air and Cyril was saying, “Good job, good job Ellie, you’re such a big brave girl,” oh, there was a tea kettle on the coffee table now, steam billowing from it and the man was holding a cloth doused in steaming water to the girl’s face, covering her mouth and nose. What…whatever it was, it seemed to be working. “Miss Rainier? Would you come sit with her for a bit?”

              “Is…is she okay?” she croaked out, doing as she was told and coming to seat herself on the coffee table, reaching out with a shaking hand to take hold of Ellie’s.

              “She’ll be just fine,” Cyril assured her, “Okay sweetheart, just rest a bit, alright? I’ll be right back with something to help calm your stomach, and we’ll see about getting your fever down honey.” Oh the girl’s eyes were open, focused and she nodded. Cyril rose from where he’d been kneeling at her side, and came to stand with Maggie. “Miss Rainier? Are you alright, do you need anything at all?”

              “I’m fine, thank you- thank you so much for helping us.”

              “Of course,” he nodded, leaving them.

              “I’m really sorry,” Ellie rasped out weakly.

              “Oh- oh honey you don’t have anything to be _sorry_ about, you’re sick. Just rest, Mister Cyril will help you feel better soon, I promise.”

              She helped the girl sit up when Cyril returned, he’d a tray of tea, ginger and cinnamon it smelled like, and Ellie sipped as much as she could, and then they had her lay back, let her rest with a cool washcloth on her forehead to help her fever, at the very least it would help the girl feel less miserable.

              Cyril offered Maggie a hand, helping her rise and leading her over to sit in a comfortable chair before he brought her a cup of tea for herself, he’d always been a sweet young man, she was grateful to see that hadn’t changed.

              “Well, I’m only a field medic, but I’ve seen my fair share of cases like this. She’s developing an upper respiratory infection.”

              “An _infection?”_ Maggie asked, aghast. “She- she just had a little cold.”

              “Seems like her cold caused drainage, bile to build up in her stomach, lungs. That triggered an asthma attack.”

              “Wait, a- a what attack?”

              “Why don’t we get you a cup of tea, let you calm down a bit, and I’ll do my best to explain, yeah? Are you watching her for someone? Her parents left her with you without warning of her asthma?”

              Oh, Maker. Cyril. Her…her son’s er, boyfriend. Manfriend? Romantic partner. Did he even know Thom was in town? Thom certainly didn’t seem aware that Cyril was.

              He wasn’t, apparently.

              “Mother?!” Thom’s voice echoed through the house as the man himself entered, “Where- oh Maker, what happened?” he breathed as he came into the living room, followed shortly by catching sight of Cyril bringing a tray of promised tea, “C-Cyril? Just- what the hell is going on?!”

              He’d just gotten back from his interview, had a small bag in hand clinking with bottles of cold medicine, and found the house in a state, the door hanging open, and uh, there was more than one person in the street able to send him chasing after Maggie’s scene.

              “I uh, I’ve been visiting my parents, I didn’t tell you because…well we usually row, when I try to get you to come back here, so I just didn’t touch it full stop,” Cyril explained himself. “But…you’re here to see your mother and her uhh…?”

              Thom sighed. “Well love, I’ve uh, gotten myself in a bit of a situation. First things first, what the hell happened at home is what I meant, and why…what’s wrong with Ellie-girl?”

              “She- she got so sick and then she couldn’t breathe and I just- I ran to find help, Cyril saved her-“

              “Your quick thinking saved her—if you hadn’t gotten her to a Healer fast, she’d be dead,” Cyril commended her, but that just- oh Maker she could have  _died._ “Did you know about her asthma?”

              “Her what now?” Thom asked.

              The medic sat them down and explained. That the girl’s lungs weren’t quite as strong as they should be, that they were sensitive to weather and air pollution and the like, she would be more susceptible to colds, upper respiratory infections.

              “Breathing in bile triggered an asthma attack,” Cyril explained. “There’s potion—a tonic of Embrium and Elf Root you should try to get a hold of, keep on hand for emergencies. You’ll want her to breathe it in, it’ll help clear her lungs and heal any damage done.”

              “Absolutely,” Maggie said, already figuring out just where she could- there were places further up town she trusted, quality Healers that would certainly have it on hand she was sure.

              “Be mindful of the weather—cold dry air will hurt her breathing, but too much humidity is just as dangerous. Your pipe, love, you’ll want to make sure you don’t smoke around her,” Cyril intoned to Thom.

              Well then. Her only vice left would be chocolate because there was no way in hell she was smoking ever, ever again.

              “Can we take her home?” Thom wondered.

              Cyril nodded. “Her parents will want to take her to see her regular physician, and make sure she gets lots of rest, try to keep her hydrated.”

              “…yeah, uh, about that, love? You might wanna sit down. I don’t have a regular physician for her yet but there’s someone whose already treated her I’ll call on. I’m uh…the parents in this situation.”

              That got her son a very blank stare for all of two seconds before Cyril looked to Maggie, held his hands up in surrender, “I didn’t do it, she’s not mine. I’d of made an honest man out of him,” he promised.

              Thom snorted shaking his head, “It’s a wild tale but not _that_ wild.”

              Her son took Ellie up in his arms to carry her home, Cyril walking them back. They got the girl settled in her own bed, and they drug in a few chairs though Maggie alone took a seat at her side, keeping hold of her hand while Thom took Cyril into the living room to…well, explain the best he could.

              She wasn’t certain if Cyril’s hysterical laughter she heard from the other room was a good sign or not. But uh…well she wished her boy the best of luck.

              Thom was alone when he came in to join her, and she heard the front door closing. “Everything okay?”

              “He’s gone to get Healer Richard,” Thom explained, “he’s…taken it rather well. Not sure how it’ll affect his own plans for the future, but he gets why I’m doing this, supports it. Think’s Ellie’s cute as a button,” he said, reaching out to rest a hand on her forehead, “Poor thing, I’m sorry I wasn’t here, Maker. You’re alright?”

              Maggie nodded. Recovering from sheer terror, but she’d be fine, “It’s alright, that’s…that’s what I’m here for. If you’re going to do this,” parenting, “you’ll need help. We can work this out, however you need. I can take time off when she’s ill, and when she’s feeling better, depending on your schedule, I can likely take her in to the office with me, there’s plenty of room there she can find somewhere to play or study.”

              “Mister Thom?”

              Thom sat forward in his seat, taking Ellie’s hand as the girl looked up at him, oh her eyes were bloodshot, and she’d burst a blood vessel while she was sicking up. “Hey sweetheart, I’m back. I’m so sorry, you’re not feeling too great, huh?” the girl nodded. “Senor Richard’ll be here soon.”

              That got a bit of a smile out of her, “He’s nice. So is Mister Cyril,” she said, “How did your interview go?”

              “It…went really great,” Thom promised her, “I’ll start training first thing next week.”

              That earned him a smile before the girl drifted off again.

              “You did good, mom. You know?” Thom asked as he settled back in his seat, resting a hand on her knee.

              Maggie Rainier conjured up a smile, oh Maker, had she? “I’m just glad she’s okay.”

 

* * *

 

              “Ellie-girl,” Thom asked one day, couple weeks into their time together. Maker, he was nervous, it hadn't dawned on him to ask, he hoped they hadn’t let the day pass already without note, “When’s your birthday?”

              The girl was seated at the kitchen table with him, legs swinging, Russel in her lap while she colored—Cyril was mad about the girl, came by daily to see them all and he didn’t dare step through the door without bringing a little something for Ellie, some kind of treat or toy, he’d gotten her all kinds of bows and little bracelets, but he’d gotten her hooked on coloring workbooks. They helped reinforce the things she was learning with her tutor and she couldn’t get enough of them, tore through them almost faster than Cyril could produce. So they’d gotten into the habit of sitting together at the kitchen table before dinner, Thom could relax after patrol and help if she needed it, see the progress she made during the day. Patrol wasn’t too bad, he liked that he got the day shift in the upper city—he could stop in on mother and Ellie from time to time during the day, walk them home when they all got off work.

              “Birthday?” Ellie questioned, not looking up from her coloring.

              “You know…when you were born? You’re eight, so when do you turn nine?”

              “Oh!” she chirped, “I up my age on the first.”

              Oh bloody freaking hell the- the first of the month? “Next Thursday?” They…they could swing something by then, hopefully.

              Her face scrunched up at that, thinking before she shook her head, “No, the first first. First Day.”

              “You were born on First Day?” he asked, surprised.

              She shrugged. “I dunno. I know I was five when I left the orphanage. I know the days now pretty well because of you and Maggie, and going to Chantry—I always know what day it is. But I didn’t have that before, so it was hard to keep track of the time. But everyone celebrates First Day, there’s always a bunch of different things going on so it’s hard not to know, so, that is when I started upping my age.”

              “What do you think you’d like to do this year?” he wondered.

              “Do?” she asked.

              “…you know, to celebrate?”

              She giggled at that, “I dunno, grown ups is in charge of First Day celebrations right?”

              … “I mean for your birthday,” he clarified.

              “…I’ll…start saying I’m nine? So you’ll have to remember that, kay? It’s okay if you forget, I’ll remind you,” she promised.

              “…Maker’s breath,” Cyril breathed when Thom shared their conversation with him later as they laid in bed…the man stayed over more nights than he didn’t, and Thom wasn’t entirely certain how long that would keep happening. Cyril was done with military work, but Klaus had gotten it into his head, the whole mercenary work thing. But uh…since Ellie? Their little bit of routine, Cyril staying over most nights and waking up to the girl pattering into their room and climbing into bed with her ‘Thom and Tio Cyril’ usually laying on them, pressing kisses to their cheeks and wishing them ‘Buenos dias!’, usually having lunch with Thom when he broke for the noon meal, getting to spend their evenings together with Ellie-girl rattling off questions or making play with them, getting to put her to bed every night? Something about the routine was addictive, and Cyril was hooked. And now he was shocked, “She doesn’t know what a birthday party is?”

              “I don’t think she’s ever celebrated the day,” Thom said, and Maker that did a number on his heart. Even he and Liddy’d had good birthdays, mother may not have always remembered, but they had. There’d been something about the day going forgotten that almost made it even more special—the two of them staying up late into the night and waiting for the clock to strike midnight to wish one another ‘Happy Birthday’ exchange any little presents they might have for one another in the dead of night without fear of mother or one of her friends taking whatever they’d scraped together for themselves. And then when she was gone, Cyril made a point of always tracking him down no matter where the hell he was, to at least send him a wish of happy birthday if he couldn’t get there personally. To have just  _never_ had acknowledgement for the day? “We…we have to do something, right?”

              Cyril nodded, “We’ll get it sorted, love. We’ll pull out all the stops for our girl,” he promised, pressing a kiss to Thom’s temple before settling against his chest, warm and close to sleep.

              It was mother who offered up,

              “Well then it’ll be the most wonderful surprise!”

              “…surprise?”

              “Yes! I mean how often do you come across the opportunity to throw a surprise party for someone’s birthday? I mean on the actual day without hurting their feelings horribly first? Oh, it’ll be so much fun, and we have so much time to plan!”

              Months of time, which passed in the blink of an eye. Cyril got a job working security at the University of Markham. They were so, so close to getting custody of Ellie, with any luck, and a lot of help from mother’s connections, she’d officially be a Rainier before Wintersend. And Maker, the girl grew so much, at least it felt like it—she’d started with weekly checkups at Healer Richards that were now safe to have once a month, she hadn’t had an asthma attack in months, and she was no longer so skeletal. She’d more roundness to her face, some proper meat on her bones, she was  _healthy,_ a far cry from the night they met. And Maker she was steadily preparing for school with the help of her tutor, a kindly older woman Miss Cunningham. The woman retired from teaching early thanks to mother’s assistance over the years to help her pour savings into her retirement fund, came three times a week to mother’s office to tutor Ellie and catch her up to speed with children her age, they were hoping to enroll her in one of the local schools next fall. She was learning to read and she was doing so well—where Cyril had once read to her every night, the men now found themselves being put to bed by the girl, seating themselves in Thom’s bed with Ellie sitting in their laps, reclining against them while she read to them storybook after storybook until she was sleepy enough to be whisked off to bed. They’d even been regularly attending Chantry, every Sunday morning, with plans to dedicate the girl to the church once she was officially theirs.

              Things could not have been better in the house of Rainier, come First Day. And it all started at midnight.

              Well, more like 11:30, Haring 31st.

              Ellie’d already been in bed since seven, when Thom, Cyril, and Maggie congregated in the kitchen. Mother was whipping up hot chocolate, perfect for such a chilly night, and Cyril built the fire back up in the living rooms fireplace. Thom slipped into Ellie’s room, and gently woke her, rubbing circles on her back, and she turned over in bed to look up at him, Russel tight in her hold.

              “Is it morning?” she wondered, confused, sleepy.

              “Almost—it’s almost midnight, First Day morning Ellie-girl. You wanna stay up and celebrate with the grown ups?”

              She popped upright at that, “Si?!” she asked, excited to be included.

              “Uh-huh, your Maggie’s making hot chocolate, and,” he looked about as if making certain there was no one to hear him conspire quietly, “I know where she hides the mini marshmallows.” She didn’t, he did. They were a guilty pleasure that Cyril scarfed down faster than he could blink if he gave their presence in the house away. “You don’t tell your Tio, and you can have as many in your cup as you want.”

              Her eyes were wide at that, “Like, a bajillion?”

              …yes. Even if he had to dash out into the night to get more of the sweet things to supply for a made-up number, this girl could have however many marshmallows she’d call ‘a bajillion’. It was her birthday after all, almost!

              But uh, it was wicked cold outside, so he was pretty grateful spilling a dozen little marshmallows into her cocoa counted as a ‘bajillion’ to an eight-year-old-

              Nine-year-old, almost. Oh Maker, they had twenty more minutes left of  _eight._  Was time magic a thing? He just…there was always this feeling of lost time, grateful for every moment and still wanting more.

              “Thom!” she let out a giggly squeal as he swooped her up carrying her, and Russel to the couch—oh she still loved that bear, carried it with her everywhere, but just how long would that last? How much longer after eight did they have of her still loving Russel, toys, tea parties? Losing the tea parties would break his damn heart, didn’t matter the ridiculous cups were too tiny for his hands, he’d gotten sipping the little shots of water down to a science.

              “Hey baby girl,” Cyril greeted as Thom took a seat between him and mother on the couch, Ellie-girl in his lap, “it’s almost the new year, are you excited?”

              “Uh-huh! My Maggie and Thom don’t have to work tomorrow—you have the day off too, right Tio Cyril?” and when he nodded. “That makes me so happy!”

              “Maker help me, I’ll quit my job.”

              He claimed he’d do as much at least once a week since he was hired. He loved the work, was even considering taking a few classes, but he hated the time away. But he did love when Maggie brought Ellie along to her classes, and the girl would patrol campus with him—there wasn’t much he had to break up on campus, but ‘crime’ was cut down exponentially when Cyril was hand in hand with an impressionable ray of sunshine. Thom’d considered the same, but…he didn’t want to risk the girl outing herself, it’d be just his luck the one time he let her come along with him to work, that’d be the one day he wasn’t dealing with petty crime and lost puppies, and something serious would go down she’d feel the need to protect him from or worse, end up in danger herself.

              “Are you happy, Ellie-girl? With your life?” Thom asked, “Any complaints? Anything you’d like to change?”

              She seemed to think it over for a minute, “Can we have cookies for breakfast?”

              “Tomorrow morning?”

              “Every morning!”

              “Hmmmm…how about chocolate chip pancakes? Cookies made out of eggs with bacon chips?”

              “Deal!”

              Maker bless her, maybe she’d grow up to be a business woman but she certainly wasn’t one now.

              “Anything else we can do for you, honey?” Maggie wondered, “Do you have any goals for this year?”

              “Goals?”

              “Things you want to do—big things you’d like to achieve.”

              “School!” she decided, “I wanna go to school with Ciel!”

              Ahh. Clarice’s boy. He was a sweet kid, and he was a regular playmate for Ellie…they were friends, but Thom was always a little nervous for the day she might come home with a genuine crush on someone. He…might kill someone if they broke her little heart.

              “You do?” Thom asked, “You don’t wanna shop around a bit? We might find someplace you like better.”

              Ellie shook her head, “I’d get to be in the same class as Ciel, he’s my best friend! Well one of them. But Russel doesn’t go to a school, and James goes to my Maggie’s school—she says I’m too little to go!” she complained.

              “I’m sorry angel, if I could, I’d have you admitted in a heartbeat but you’re just not quite ready to apply to university yet. Is that a goal for the future?” Mother asked, “You’d like to go to University?”

              “Uh-huh!”

              “What do you think you wanna be when you grow up?” Cyril asked.

              “I’m going to marry Russel and teach big people classes like my Maggie.”

              Thom choked a bit on his coco, “Marry Russel?”

              “Si! He asked me and I said yes! But Tio Cyril says we have to be growed up to get married.”

              “Uh-huh, you gotta be at  _least_  thirty. Pass an exam, it’s a whole thing, boring,” Boring, huh? He’d sure as hell been dancing around the ‘boringness’ of matrimony for the better part of the last few months, consolidate their assets, make things official…if anything ever happened to Thom there’d be someone he’d trust ready to step up and take care of her. Once he was officially her ‘birth father’, him and Cyril tying the knot would uh, make it that much easier for the other man to stake a claim to her, adopt her.

              “I’m good at exams! And I’m eight soooo…” she had to consult her fingers. “Twenty two more years and I can be Mrs. Russel Bear! Oh!” she squeaked, “in a few minutes I can say I’m nine! That’s a whole other year down—twenty one to go!”

              Maker help him, today was the day she came home with a crush then. On her stuffed bear…not too bad, Russel ever crossed her, Thom knew well where he lived, he’d be easy enough to toss in the fireplace.

              “What about you, love? Mother? You two have any big plans for the coming year?”

              “Well,” mother started, “I’m…looking to expand somewhat business-wise. The shelter, just a few blocks from here, where I go to meetings sometimes? Their organizer is retiring this year and he approached me with an offer to become a sponsor, but uh…well I have enough saved up, and it’s something I’d love to more a part of. One thing lead to another, sometime next year I’ll own and operate the downtown shelter and um, the building next door? Make it bigger, more rooms, a space for classrooms. I’m in talks with Markham University administration, to create a program for residents of the shelter to get resources for education, take specialized classes that would fast-track their progress so they can become certified in their chosen trade.”

              “Mom, that’s amazing,” Thom breathed.

              “Yeah, Mags, that’s incredible,” Cyril commended.

              Ellie bounced excitedly in her seat, reaching out to take the woman’s hand, “Maaaaaaaaggie, can I help? I wanna help!”

              “Sure thing baby girl, you’ll be a big help,” Maggie promised.

              “What about you Tio Cyril?” Ellie prompted. "What do you wanna do this year?

              “I got a couple things in the works,” Cyril responded vaguely, little wink to Thom, before he offered,  _“but_ , I’m going to start taking classes at the University when they open for their spring semester…I’m planning to expand on my experience as a field medic, and become a licensed Healer.”

              Wait, seriously? “Cyril, that’s great!”

              “You’ll be the best!” Ellie enthused, “You’re already the best at fixes ouches, look-it! My knee’s already all better!” she said, planting her foot on Thom’s knee and pulling up her nightgown to expose the bit of bruising, a healed up scrape on her knee.

              “Girl, we need a healer in our family just for your falls,” Thom complained, “honey you've got to be careful."

              Ellie got _very_ shy then, she had so much hair now and it hid her face pretty well when she wanted it to, “Our family?”

              “Yeah Ellie-girl. You, me, your Maggie, Tio Cyril. And Russel, of course,” Thom assured the bear.

              “So me too?” Ellie checked, turning in his lap to sit on her knees, look directly into his face.

              “Well yeah honey, of course you too. You’re our baby girl. We wouldn’t be a family without you, not how we are right now anyway.”

              “We’re familia?!” she asked excitedly. “You’re my papi?”

              …was…was he? He- he felt like he was but it sounded wild to say as much, “Y-yeah, if uh, that’s okay with you.”

              “And my Maggie’s mi abuelita?!”

              Mother looked overwhelmed at the notion but, “…abuelita? Oh l love it!” she enthused, ticking at Ellie’s sides, making the girl giggle and bury her face against Thom’s neck.

              Cyril reached out and ran a hand down Ellie’s hair, playing with a curl as he said to Thom, “Check the time, love.”

              Ahh, just a few minutes left to the new year. “Come on Ellie-girl, let’s get your coat on—it’s almost First Day.” It’d only be a few minutes, but they’d be damned if the girl wound up sick on her birthday. So, everyone grabbed their coats. Mother’d taken Ellie-girl shopping on more than one occasion and Thom was pretty sure there were enough sweaters in her wardrobe to clothe a small country. Got her bundled up in a sweater over her night gown, Cyril managed to wrangle her feet into three pairs of socks, tickling at her sides when she squirmed.

              All the levity seemed to get to the girl—between excitement and cocoa, she was hyped up, and started running around the house, slip-sliding every other step as she scurried around in circles, Cyril making chase, chasing her right back into Thom’s arms, ready and waiting with Ellie’s coat, finishing her bundling and carrying the giggly girl on his hip out into the night air.

              “You ready, sweetheart?” he asked as they entered the busy street, packed to the brim as all of downtown came out to get a look at the show. One thing he had to give Markham—they put on a mean First Day fireworks display, and come morning, things would be even better.

              Oh Maker, he was _excited._

              “Okay honey, in a few seconds its gonna get a little loud—if you get scared, just let me know and we’ll go back inside, but I promise, I got you, you’re perfectly safe, okay?”

              “Okay,” Ellie nodded, arms around his neck, holding on to him tight as she braced herself, she still jumped, startled when the first of the booms went off, but the resulting lights? Oh, those had her gasping with delight, hanging back to lookup, eyes wide, entirely amazed. Cyril came in close, a warm hand on the small of Thom’s back, making play with Ellie, tickling at the underside of her foot as he leaned in and whispered,

              “Happy First Day, baby girl.”

              “Happy First Day, mi Tio!” she wished him, leaning to press a kiss to his cheek before she hugged Thom around the neck, “Happy First Day!”

              “Happy First Day, sweetheart,” Thom replied.

              She hummed a bit as she snuggled against him, “I love you lots, papi.”

              Maker help him, his throat felt tight, but he managed to speak past it, “I love you too, Ellie-girl.”

              Fireworks were an actual blast, and all the excitement that hyped the girl up, sent her crashing, out like a light as they returned home. He’d planned to tuck her into bed but,

              “Can we keep her?” Cyril asked in unison with Maggie’s,

              “She can sleep with me.”

              “Why don’t you get ready for bed and come join us, mom, plenty of room.”

              Mother’s face scrunched up at that, hesitant to intrude but, “You’re sure?”

              “Absolutely,” he assured. There would be room. Annnnd his lover had the mind of an absolute adolescent. He knew the very moment he could get away with it without Ellie or Maggie overhearing them, there would also be ‘I slept with your mother’ jokes.

              It was admittedly a bit of a squeeze…but it was well worth it. First Day, 9:35 saw the Rainier family tucked safely in bed, excited for the day ahead.

 

* * *

 

 

              Ellie loved her bed in her Maggie’s house—it was the first time in forever she had her own bed! But waking up after First-Day Eve, she found herself appreciating it all the more. It was so soft, warm-

              Oh! It wasn’t her bed! Her bed was soft and warm, yeah, but she’d a grown up on either side of her—Tio Cyril, and then Papi Thom and abuelita Maggie on the other side, gosh it was toasty! She was in papi’s room! Did she have a nightmare or something? She didn’t think so…Papi and Tio never minded Ellie coming to them if she had scary dreams, and when they had to work at night time, Maggie always let her come sleep with her.

              “Papi?” Ellie asked, poking at his cheek—his face was so fuzzy in the mornings! It was always so tickly when she kissed him on the cheek, or when he hugged her—he was the best at hugs! “Papi, you’re snoring.”

              He snorted up a snore, “’m not,” he  _fibbed!_

              “Papi! Mother Wendy says fibbing’s bad!” and Mother Wendy knew what was up! She was a Mother, after all! Oh, gosh, Ellie  _loved_ going to Chantry every Sunday, it was just the best! Abuelita always let Ellie sit in her lap during service so she could see over the pew—she was getting taller! But she needed more tallness!

              “It is?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her as he sat up in bed, “You ready for breakfast, Ellie-girl?”

              Her tummy was rumbly—his too it sounded like, so, “Yeah! Pancakes?” he promised!

              “Pancakes! Chocolate chips—extra chips for any pretty little Antivans running around.”

              Oh! “I’m a pretty little Antivan!” Ellie enthused. That was the best!

              “Well then you’re in luck,” he sounded pleased to inform her, “Cyril, love, move.”

              The other man was lying on his stomach, “Make me,” he mumbled out sleepily into his pillow.

              There was chocolate chips at stake! “Tio Cyril! Dale! Dale! We’re hungry!”

              “How  _dare_ you let me lay here while this precious baby girl is hungry,” Cyril accused papi Thom, pushing himself upright, “The nerve! Come on sweetheart, Tio’s got you!”

              “Oi!” Papi complained as Tio Cyril snatched Ellie up, whisking her off to the kitchen, letting her sit on the counter top while he and Thom got out pancake supplies! Maggie joined them, scooting the bowl of chocolate chips closer to Ellie so she could sneak chips while Papi and Tio worked. She was working too! Sneaking chips was hard!

              Breakfast was the best! Papi made the yummiest pancakes and there was so much syrup!

              And no one had to go to work! Not even Papi! He worked so hard! His armor was so heavy, it was hard for Ellie to lift even its littlest pieces like his gauntlets or boots! Sometimes he let her wear his helmet when she played dragon slayer with Tio, it was so heavy! He had to walk around all day in that, and he had to fight bad people to keep the city safe! Sometimes he came home so tired he couldn’t play, but that was okay, he liked laying down on the couch after work and letting Ellie nap with him. And sometimes he came home with ouches—hurt, cuts and scrapes and big big bruises. But he always let Ellie help when she could, ‘cause  she was a big girl! And Ava had taught her a bunch of stuff about healing so she could fix her own hurts when they were apart…

              “Papi…” Ellie got his attention after she swallowed her bite of pancake—cause she was a lady! Abuelita told her so, it isn’t nice to talk with food in your mouth! “Um, is it okay if I change my mind about what you asked last night? About changes I’d make to be happy?”

              He looked to her, wiping his mouth with a napkin before reaching out to rest his hand on her arm, it didn’t scare her anymore when he or Tio or Abuelita did stuff like that, they never touched her to hurt her. “Of course, Ellie-girl. Is there something you need?”

              Not  _need_ exactly, but she did really really want it, “Um…do you think…I know you and Tio and my Maggie all work so hard, but you wouldn’t even have to come with me if you didn’t want but um…I miss A-Ava. And she’s all alone where she lives, I think she gets lonely, and I just…I want to make sure she’s okay, you know?”

              “Oh, honey…” Thom breathed, “Of course not—I mean not all on your own.”

              “Yeah baby girl, we’d hardly pack you a lunch and send you on your way,” Cyril agreed.

              “Give us a bit to collaborate schedules, Ellie-girl, we’ll take the time off and go pay Ava a visit.”

              “Really?!” Ellie asked, “Oh gosh, like, all of us? I mean I know the way and you all work so much, I-I wouldn’t want you to use your time off just for something I want to do.”

              “The only things we’ve been kicking around when thinking about vacation are being together and doing something fun,” Thom said, “Ava lives near Tantervale right? We’ll have to be careful, but there’s all sorts of fun things we can get up to on the way there, back. We can take a detour, go to the beach, there’s a bunch of lakes.”

              “Your papi wants to go damn fishing,” Cyril said, “boring, you and me sweetpea? Sun, sand, swimming—wait, do you know how to swim?”

              “Que? Oh!” water,  _la natacion!_  “A little?”

              “We’ll fix that, if you’d like, you should know how to swim well in case of emergency,” Tio said.

              “You’d teach me?” Ellie asked, oh, that sounded fun! She liked splashing around in the bathtub, lakes, the ocean they were like super big bathtubs!

              “Of course,” Tio assured, bopping her on the nose with his index finger, making her giggle. He was silly!

              “Would you come Abuelita?”

              Maggie quickly swallowed her sip of coffee—yucky stuff, Ellie tried Papi’s at breakfast one morning and it was just icky! “Absolutely,” she said, “I would love to meet this Ava. I understand she’s helped you before?”

              Ellie nodded, “When she could. It was never really safe for me to stick around cause of,” she wriggled her fingers—it was nice, a little signal Tio came up after she and Thom sat him down and told him about her magic. “Her village wasn’t going to be cool with two of us running around,” she shrugged.

              “…two of you?”

              Oh! “Oh! Ava’s like me. She taught me um…”

              “We’re home Ellie-girl, you’re always safe here,” Papi promised.

              Ellie nodded. “She taught me Barrier…or at least, she taught me how to call it intentionally, instead of just my magic calling it up to protect me.”

              Papi was quiet for a moment, “Sweetheart…you’re doing a lot with your education right now, trying to get caught up. But uh…if you wanted more, with your magic, I’d find a way for you.”

              …sometimes her magic wanted to do more, but it was sort of like how she got bored and wanted to go play? She wasn’t sure about training yet, “I’m still really little, my magic isn’t big yet. But I think I’d like to learn more about Sp-Spirit magic,” she admitted. “Being able to protect people, help with healing and making them feel better!” she enthused,

              “That’s sweet, honey,” Cyril said, tucking a bit of her hair behind her ear.

              “You’re sure it’d be okay for me to train?”

              “Of course,” Cyril assured, “If you needed that, to help you with your magic, yeah, we’d make sure you have that.”

              Abuelita pressed a kiss to Ellie’s hair, “Alright honey, you ready to have some fun today?”

              “Uh-huh!” Ellie nodded, “What do you wanna do today?”

              “There’s all sorts of fun things happening up near my office—the whole uppercity will have a fair going on. And Mister Danny convinced James to read at story time today at the campus library,” Maggie listed off.

              “Really?!” Ellie asked, oh wow! Mister James was the best! Ellie always got to come to their lunch dates and it was always super fun! He was so nice, he always said nice things to Ellie, and it made her sad his parents didn’t like his boyfriend—Mister Danny was the sweetest! He ran story time at the library and he always made sure Ellie got her hands on books she’d like, even helped her with learning how to read better!

              Maggie helped her pick out something warm and pretty to wear, she had so many clothes now, and her own room, bed, toys…gosh she was so blessed. She couldn’t believe how much different her life was now with Thom, and Cyril, and her Maggie. She loved them all so much, and she was so, so grateful to know them.

              For the first time…she didn’t have to leave! She’d been waiting, months and months, but…Papi and Tio and Abuelita, they were never afraid of her, never screamed or yelled for her to go away, never…never scared her, or hurt her. Even when she had nightmares, they always took care of her, made sure she knew she was safe and could come to them. And…and they always helped her when she got hurt or sick, they never shied away for fear she might get demon possessed or something, they only worried about  _her_ , that she was sick, not that she might hurt them.

              “Honey?” Maggie asked, knocking on Ellie’s bedroom door once the woman was dressed herself, oh! “You ready?” she checked as she came in, oh wow!

              “We match!” Ellie giggled, oh gosh! That was fun! Maggie and her had matching evergreen sweater dresses with white hearts on each wrist, and white woolen leggings! “You look so pretty!” she even had her hair down today, and she’d curled it a bit!

              “Well you, are just beautiful!” Maggie smiled, taking Ellie’s hand. “And Mister Russel is as dashing as ever! Let’s get your coat on, boots, bundle up bug it’s going to be very, very cold out.”

              Uh-huh! She usually tried to stay north-er when it got this time of year, but she wouldn’t trade anything in her life away for anything! Not even winter in Markham for warm Wycome beaches…

              It was kinda the opposite direction from Ava’s but maybe they could go to Wycome on vacation sometime!

              Papi made sure her scarf was on snug, the soft knit hat she wore secure on her head, and then he and Tio each took one of her mittened hands— Thom got her a new pack! It was pretty and just for carrying Russel around so her hands were free for holding! She was absolutely  _not_  to let go while they walked the streets, it was both easy and dangerous to get separated. Thom always walked with an arm around Abuelita, so she stayed safe!

              The streets were crowded, but gosh the snow was pretty. And she liked seeing everyone out, happy to be together, Markham so many people. Sometimes people were mean or bad, but lots of people she met were really really nice! First Day was in full swing, and everyone just seemed so happy!

              And it was easy to see why—there was a huge festival in the upper city! There were booths and carts full of so much yummy smelling food! And games, and so many interesting things, vendors selling goods but not like they did in regular shops, people from all over that didn’t have stores around were selling things Ellie recognized from different places she’d been—souvenirs and things that came from Tevinter she figured, they looked like things she’d seen in Hasmal* at least, Orlesian, though she’d never been to Orlais she knew these people in Wycome—there was this restaurant she could find work in there run by a retired merchant couple whose daughter was a mage* like Ellie! She lived in Orlais and would send them things from time to time. Scarves and wine and tea sets. There were a few vendors with things that looked Antivan, but…she was still kind of scared, it made her nervous, she liked that when she was shy or afraid Papi’s cloak was long enough, she could hide her face against it.

              “What’s up little love?” Thom questioned, and he chuckled when she shrugged. “Alright honey, you want up? You’ll be able to see better—let us know where you wanna go, okay? You pick.”

              Ellie pick? Huh…

              Papi picked her up so her head was level with his—gosh he was so tall! He could see over lots of the crowd!

              Hmmm…Ellie had to pick, that was hard! There was so much places! Ummmm…oh! There were games that looked fun, like Papi and Tio might like playing! Throwing rings over bottle necks or balls to knock cans over—they could get so competitive! And her Maggie liked to shop, she was already eyeing a stall selling pretty scarves—they could switch off, things Papi and Tio would like, and things her Maggie would like! Ellie’d love whatever they were doing as long as they were together!

              Cyril and Thom had so much fun! They liked playing and they even helped Ellie to play—she wasn’t very good at the whole ‘throwing’ thing. But they still walked away with a friend for Russel! A little plush nug, it was so cute, and his name was Pinkie ‘cause he was pink…and Tio almost broke his little finger getting it—he and Papi played tug of war with the last ball to throw because they  _both_  thought they’d do better than each other! They were big but they could act like little kids sometimes—it made her Maggie smile, that was nice. Sometimes her Maggie got so sad. She didn’t cry or anything, just…quiet, but she always cheered up when Ellie hugged her or let her play with her hair—Maggie got so good at it! It made Ellie really sad to hear her talk about how she had regrets and things on her super-sad day. Being grown up looked complicated sometimes.

              “Oh honey, look—isn’t this cute?” Maggie asked, holding up a pale blue silk scarf, “It’s a bit thin for this weather but I think it’d be adorable for you to wear in the spring.”

              “It’s really pretty,” Ellie said, “you should wear it too Abuelita! It’s just like your eyes! Oh! Classes start up next week, si? You should wear it with your white blouse and the suit it kind of matches—the one with the shiny silver buttons? When you go back! You’d look so beautiful!” Maggie was the prettiest! And…well Papi and Tio made each other so happy! She wanted her Maggie to be happy too, and there was this Professor at the grownup school, his name was kind of funny, Farkus*? He was a sciencey teacher, chem…chemistry! Yeah! But he also did math things—so…even though he’d been hired through the science place, he knew lots of math people, and was always coming around to the math place, where Maggie had an office at school? He always had a reason to come by the common area when Abuelita had office hours, Ellie always saw! He was always nice to her, carried peppermints in his suit jacket that he’d let Ellie have, he knew grownup math, but he’d help her with the baby math she got from Miss Cunningham—that’s the tutor papi found for her! Anyway, Professor Farkus was nice and always coming around to chat up Abuelita! And Ellie didn’t always go to school with her Maggie, but when she went without her, she always came home with some funny thing he’d said or nice thing he’d done to tell them about at dinner. And he even asked Ellie once if her Maggie was seeing anyone! She got so many peppermints when she told him she wasn’t!

              She…wasn’t in it for the peppermints, really! She was pretty sure all she had to do was tell Tio she liked peppermints and she’d never run out! She liked the professor, he was kind and always thoughtful of Maggie, and he made her smile! So!

              “Well, thank you sweetheart, maybe I will,” Maggie agreed, she should!

              Oh gosh! Speaking of Professor Farkus…

              When they were all done shopping and playing, they went to Maggie’s school—for lunch, and then storytime! Mister James and Danny met them just inside the entrance to the dining hall near the college’s public library, Danny was already hanging up their coats on the hooks inside, they’d gotten all dressed up! Huh, Thom and Cyril were wearing their nicer trousers and button up shirts today too, the shiny leather shoes they wore for going out on dates or to work meetings or something. They must be dressed up for First Day!

              “Oh my god. Kill me,” Mister James begged for some reason? Abuelita had taken her coat off and was just helping Ellie out of hers, “Are you two  _matching?_  I will die—that’s so cute! Ellie-bug, you’re the cutest.  Danny, marry me now, we have to drop out of school and adopt ten of her.”

              “Jamison Andrew Montgomary. If you drop out of college with one semester between you and your diploma I will tear out all my gorgeous hair,” Abuelita threatened.

              “Oh, I can’t risk your hair, Maker that’d be an actual sin,” James agreed.

              Danny just shook his head, smiling as he knelt to be level with Ellie, “You look very beautiful little miss. Are you having a good day?”

              “The best!” Ellie assured him, “Papi made me pancakes! And we went to the fair! Now Russel has a friend—Pinkie the nug!” Papi let her hold the nug as long as she promised to hold on to Tio’s hand super super tight while they walked, so she held Pinkie up for James and Danny to see.

              “That does sound like the best time,” Danny said,

              James let out a whine at that, “She has a stuffed nug now, Danny. She named it Pinkie and she thinks he’s friends with her bear.” Think’s they’re friends?

              “Handsome, we can adopt all the kids you can afford to feed with your fancy engineering degree, I promise.”

              “Pinkie and Russel are friends!” Ellie argued. They were!

              “Yeah they are babe,” Danny was quick to agree,  raising a hand to shake the little nug plushie’s front paw, “It’s an honor to meet you Mister Pinkie. I can tell already they’ve really hit it off, wow they must love you a whole bunch!”

              They do? Huh, that was nice! She guessed that made sense ‘cause she loved them a whole bunch too! Russel would always be her favorite though.

              And Papi would always be her favorite person to sit with! He always let her sit in his lap so she could reach the table better, because sometimes the grown ups had a lot of stuff to talk about that she didn’t really chime in on too much—they always included her in conversations and she  _could_ talk when she wanted to, but she liked to sit and color while they waited on their food. Maggie always had one of her coloring books and coloring wax in her purse! Oh! It was one of her math ones—connecting the dots to make bubble numbers you could color in, she liked to just connect the…um…equation! The equation part, and then she’d work it out underneath all by herself before connecting the bubble number answer the book gave, ‘cause she could do it by herself most of the time! And when she did get it wrong, it was easier to understand how come.

              “Margret, my word what a pleasant surprise,” a pleasant voice said, it had Ellie looking up from her work, oh yay! Professor Farkus!

              “David!” Abuelita greeted, surprised herself, “I didn’t realize you’d be on campus today. You’re not working too hard are you?”

              Oh he looked like he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar! She hadn’t understood that saying before coming to live with her Maggie—getting caught sneaking cookies was-! Like a fun sort of scary! It wasn’t her fault; cookies was the best! “I had some last-minute changes to make to the Spring syllabus, and the office is so quiet on First Day I couldn’t pass on the opportunity to get it done before everyone else comes back in for the last big push to prepare for the Spring semester.”

              “Well, I can’t say I haven’t done the same before,” Maggie admitted, “this year was rather different for me though. Oh! David, this is my Thom!” she said, using the back of her hand to rap against Papi’s shoulder and get his attention, “Thom, this is Professor Farkus,” she introduced them.

              “Ahh, pleasure to finally meet you,” Thom said, offering the man a hand to shake, “mother says good things—Ellie-girl too.”

              “Well I’m honored to have the good opinion of such two respectable young ladies,” the Professor said, oh Abuelita blushed and shook her head while he shook Papi’s hand, “it’s wonderful to meet you as well, your mother has always spoken so very highly of you—Champion of the Grand Tourney? Good show. And your daughter is an absolute delight, and quite the little mathematician,” he complimented oh gosh! That made Ellie blush, press her back against Papi’s chest as she ducked her head a bit.

              “She’s got her basics down, we’re thinking she’s good to go for fourth grade this fall.”

              “Fourth grade? Oh, she’ll do swimmingly,” but Tio hadn’t taught her swimming yet! “I’ve been popping by when she’s in the office and giving her little problems to work on, we’ve gotten to variable expressions.”

              “Boooo!” James complained, “No school talk during holiday! Only fun stuff.”

              “But school is fun!” Ellie defended—it was! She knew so much cool stuff now! She didn’t even know how to read when she met Papi and now she loved reading!

              “That’s the spirit!” Professor Farkus said, “You’re honing your skills as we speak, all while working on your understanding of color theory, very beautifully done,” he complimented, looking down at her coloring book.

              “Thanks! Do you have problems for me?” she wondered.

              “Oh come on,” Danny said, “Hon, it’s your- it’s a special day today. First Day, and your papi says you’re nine today!”

              Was there something special about being nine?

              “You are?” Professor Farkus asked, “Well then, congratulations young lady! I believe I do have a problem for you. May I?” he asked, hand just over the little box of coloring wax she had out, and she nodded, of course! He picked a pretty blue color and wrote along the side of the page y+5=9 1-x=1, 18+z=26. y=, x=, z=? Oh! She could do it, he taught her how! You do opposites with the number parts and whatever you do on one side, you have to do on the other to figure out what the letter represents. Take away five…and then the other is take away with the one ‘cause it’s in front annnnd uhhh…positive! It’s a positive number. Ellie didn’t know there was negative numbers until Professor Farkus taught her! That was dumb! They were numbers, they helped with all kinds of good, smart things! They should all be happy about that!

              “My god, the rumors are true,” Danny breathed as he looked at her problems, “you are a monster.”

              “Professor Farkus is the nicest! I will fight you!” Ellie snapped, pointing her green coloring wax at him! Before she used it to finish her math! y=4, x=0, annnnnd z=8! Oh! “You used my age, and the day I up my age, and my born year! Plus I was just eight! Gosh that’s so smart!”

              “Is she better at math than me?” James questioned his boyfriend.

              “For the sake of all future bridges, I certainly hope not.”

              Professor Farkus smiled, oh he had a nice smile! And he offered Ellie a peppermint out of his jacket pocket, “Very good young lady, you watch, you’ll take right after your brilliant grandmother,” he offered like a friendly warning before saying, “Have a blessed First Day and a wonderful new year everyone—it was a pleasure to see you, do be well Margret.”

              Yeah! Her Abuelita was brilliant! And beautiful! And Professor Farkus was handsome and nice and smart! And they should…huh, she wasn’t sure, kiss? Papi and Tio kiss! And hold hands and stuff! And um…she wasn’t sure, sometimes her Maggie took her out for dessert somewhere uptown so Thom and Cyril could have ‘grown up time’, which the woman said was boring, but if it was so boring why did Papi and Tio look forward to it so much? They did it at least once a week! Well…there was that short while Abuelita didn’t take her out ‘cause they weren’t, they’d gotten into some kind of argument over something—they never yelled or anything, it took a few days for Ellie to even realize they had some kind of upset because they didn’t want to scare her she guessed. But then the next week it was dessert city! Her Maggie took her out every night for a week straight! Huh, would Ellie have to go get dessert by herself if Maggie started having grown up time with Professor Farkus? Maybe they’d have it at work or something, they were together then. Oh! Or Papi and Tio could take her out!

              She isn’t in it for the snacks but the potential for snacks was very nice!

              Lunch was really good! And James and Danny asked Ellie about her most favorite storybook—if there was one they’d already read that she’d like to hear again, or if they hadn’t gotten around to her favorite, they’d do it today! That was super sweet of them! She felt kind of badly because she wasn’t the only kid who had to listen—shouldn’t they get a say since she was? But when they did convince her to pick—her favorite was the Dragon and the Nug*!—Danny said that was his very favorite too, and lots of kids liked it, so…she guessed that was okay!

              “Ellie. Full favoritism happening right now,” James warned her as they got up to head to the library, “My performance today is entirely dedicated to you, sweet precious light of my actual life. I love you, I would die for you, you complete me.”

              “I’m standing right here,” Danny jokingly complained.

              Oh! “Don’t worry Mister Danny! James is going to marry you once you guys are thirty!” she assured him, “When I’m thirty I’m going to marry Russel!”

              James’s eyes went wide at that, and he reached out to grab Danny’s forearm, half-whispering, “She thinks she’s going to marry her bear!”

              She was! Russel was the best!

              James and Danny held her hands—Abuelita carried Pinkie for her, it was really sweet! And she got to swing a bit! Papi made this sort of panicked, startled sound and Tio muttered, “Easy now, be careful,” while the two men walking alongside Ellie swung their arms out ahead of them to take her off the ground, swooping up and then swoop her back down! The whole way to the library! It was so much fun!

              She could hear little footsteps running to catch up with them as they reached the library and then, “Bonjour, Ellie!”

              Oh gosh! James and Danny let go of her hands so she could go meet her friend! The little Orlesian boy gave her a great big hug! “Hola, Ciel! Hola Miss Clarice!”

              “Bonjour sweet girl,” Clarice greeted, bending to be level with her and Ciel, “Are you having a good day?”

              “Si!” Ellie said, “First Day has been so much fun! You guys have had a good day right?”

              “We have,” Clarice assured.

              “Ellie, will you sit with me during story time?” Ciel asked.

              “Uh-huh!” Ellie nodded.

              “It’s gonna be a good one today,” Danny promised as he opened one of the ginormous library doors to hold it for them, “Ellie’s favorite.”

              “Oui! Le Dragon et le Nug?” Ciel asked, excited, he held out his hand to her, “I know the Dragon crying makes you sad, you can hold my hand, okay?”

              Oh! That would make her feel better! “Gracias, Ciel! Let’s go get good seats!”

              “Front row and center babes,” James said as he ushered them inside.

              Mister James was such a good reader! He did voices and everything! Ellie  _loved_ the Dragon and the Nug! It’s the best story—this big mean Dragon thinks he’s so tough and strong and powerful that he can do whatever he wants to, and he doesn’t need anybody but himself, so he boasts about his strength and is mean to the other animals just to show off and prove he’s super powerful—he’s mean, even to a little bitty Nug that didn’t do anything to him! But the Nug doesn’t care, it doesn’t hurt his feelings, but he warns the Dragon that everyone needs help sometimes. The Dragon doesn’t believe him and tells him he’s just little and dumb! But then one day, as the Dragon lands in a field, he steps on something and  _ouch!_ He’s got a stick, stuck in his front claw, right up between two scale plates! It’s super painful and ouchy, and he can’t get it out because his talons are too big, and curved, they can’t pinch the stick between them to pull it out! And trying to break it underfoot just makes it so so much worse! He’s really really sad and in so much pain, and no one will help him and he starts to  _cry!_ It’s a really sad story and it always makes Ellie so sad at first, but she likes it because just when it gets super sad, it gets super  _super_ happy! Everything works out okay! ‘cause the Nug—he didn’t take the Dragon’s bragging personally, and he saw how much the Dragon was hurting and took pity on him. So he goes right up to the big, mean, scary Dragon and says ‘I’ll help you!’ and he does! When the Dragon holds still, the Nug can get under his foot and take the stick in between his little bitty paws, and pull it right out! But that’s super dangerous because the Dragon is so much bigger than him, the Nug could have gotten hurt so much worse than a little stick in his paw, but he still helped! And the Dragon, he takes the Nug up in his paw, cradling him so he doesn’t accidentally step down on him, and thanks him! He wonders why the Nug was so helpful after he was so very mean, but the Nug tells him everyone deserves to have someone looking out for them, to be shown compassion, and if the Nug was in trouble, he’d want someone to help him! He reminds the Dragon to not be so mean to people, and remember someday he might need help again, because everyone does, and the Dragon promises to be nicer, and he and the Nug are the best of friends after that!

              Everyone clapped for Mister James when he was all done, he’d done such a great job!

              “How we feelin’ Ellie-girl?” Papi asked, oh! He just picked her right up once she had her coat on, “Time for a nap you think? Or do nine year olds not need naps?”

              Um. Who didn’t need a nap? Everyone should take naps! “Definitely nap time! Do you wanna nap with me, Papi?”

              “Sure thing hun,” he agreed.

              She…might have gotten a head start on the napping, but he was so warm! And she was comfortable and her papi made her feel safe so she didn’t remember much of the walk home, she’d heard Abuelita chatting with Tio and then the next thing she knew, she was in her jammies, on the couch laying on Papi’s chest, the man snoring away. Someone had the fireplace going and Pinkie and Russel were laying beside her, between her and the back of the couch so they didn’t fall. Warm, more sleep, this was the best nap!

              And when she woke up, her Maggie had made dinner! Chicken and rice and these colorful peppers that were hot but were super sweet at the same time, gosh it was so so good! And apple juice!

              “You feel up to one more outing today Ellie-girl?” Thom asked as they ate.

              Oh wow, they were going out again? Oh, was Abuelita taking her for dessert or something? “Sure thing!”

              “Excellent, your Maggie will help you get ready, okay?”

              She got to take a bath! A long bubbly one! Abuelita tucked her hair up into a silky stretchy cap to keep her hair from getting wet, and she got so clean. And then she got to put on this pretty purple dress her Maggie got her last week, she thought it was for Chantry, but it was for First Day she guessed! And Maggie pulled her hair back with a matching bow, and she got to wear the nice shoes she wore for Chantry.

              “You look so beautiful sweetpea!” Tio enthused, helping her with her coat.

              “Gracias p- Tio!” Whoops! It was Tio still, wow! She didn’t want to ruin the surprise! But a whole month was such a long wait still, gosh! She was so excited!

              Papi and Tio took her hands again, they were coming too! They were all going out again, that was fun! It felt kind of like an adventure because it was dark out now, it’d be scary if she was by herself—she always used to travel at night because that was safest, but the dark was scary, but she didn’t have to go by herself anymore! That made it less scary and more exciting. But gosh, everyone was in a hurry to get wherever they were going, Ellie had to scurry to keep up, and the air was very ‘ouch’ tonight.

              “P-papi, Tio! Slow down!”

              “Sorry baby girl,” Tio apologized, and- oh! Papi let go of her hand, but-! Oh, it was okay, it was so Tio could lift her up! She didn’t need to be carried, she just needed them to not take such great big steps so fast, but she guessed they really needed to get somewhere!

              That somewhere was…huh. Familiar but she wasn’t super sure why…she’d been here before, she was pretty sure…

              Oh! Oh it was Miss Dana’s! Her tavern and inn—they hadn’t been back since she stayed here with Thom the night they met! Huh, but it didn’t look like it was open right now, the windows were all dark, but Papi went right up to the door and knocked a few times before he turned to face Ellie and Cyril, kissing her on the cheek, oh yay! Gosh, he shaved this morning and he was already prickly again, it tickled!

              And then he said something kind of funny. At first she thought maybe he’d had a ‘old-person moment’ Maggie called them, gotten his words confused—cause usually people said ‘Happy First Day!’ but Papi wished her,

              “Happy Birthday, Ellie-girl.”

              And then he threw open the door to the darkened tavern, and all of a sudden all the lamps were turned up super bright! And- and- Ellie jumped a little, hugging Tio tighter, but it’d been startling! So many people jumped out of hiding! Mister James and Danny, and Miss Dana, and Miss Cunningham,Healer Richard, Ciel and Clarice! All of her friends! And- huh, maybe Papi hadn’t gotten confused…there was a big banner hanging in the middle of the tavern that said ‘Happy Birthday Eillie!’

_“Happy Birthday, Ellie!”_

              “Birthday? W-what?” she asked.

              “Your…your birthday, chérie,” Clarice offered.

              “You don’t know about birthdays, Ellie?” Ciel asked, frowning a bit at the thought. Why was he sad?

              “It’s okay you don’t know little love,” Tio assured her gently, “When people we love are born, it’s a happy thing we celebrate. We all love you, and we’re so grateful you were born. Today is the day you up your age, so today’s the day we’ll celebrate.”

              Oh…oh wow, really?

              “Oh honey,” Papi rested a hand on her back, rubbing circles while she hugged Cyril tight, her face buried against his neck, “sweetheart, Cyril didn’t mean to make you cry-“

              “I’m okay,” she promised, sniffling a bit, “I’m not sad or anything I’m just really really happy! I love you all so much!”

              “We love you too baby girl,” Maggie offered, coming up behind Cyril to take Ellie’s face in hand, thumbing the tears from under her eyes and pressing a kiss to her forehead, “come on honey, we’ve got all sorts of fun things planned.”

              “Kay,” Ellie agreed, wow, they- they put so much work into today! She’d already had so much fun, she couldn’t believe they were about to have even more! Oh- “Wait! So like, everyone has a birthday?”

              “Every year,” Papi assured her as he took her hand and Tio set her down. Every year?! Oh. She guessed that made sense.

              “Well what are your birthdays? I’m so sorry if I missed them-“

              Ciel smiled. “Don’t worry mon ami—mine was a few weeks after we met but we didn’t know each other well then and my party was just with a few friends from school. You’re definitely invited to this years though,” he promised.

              “Gracias!” Ellie thanked him, “Kay, whens everyone elses? I wanna celebrate you guys too!”

              Maggie always had something to write with, so she passed her notepad around for everyone to write down their birthdays so Ellie could know them—even Miss Dana! She’d always been nice to Ellie and she was letting her have her birthday party here so Ellie wanted to at least know when to wish her happy birthday!

              They played pin the tail on the Fennecce! It made Ellie super dizzy but wow it was fun! And she’d been right—while it wasn’t just her and Abuelita, they had still gone out for dessert! There was this great big cake, it was huge! And super pretty, Tio lit the candles and Papi held Ellie’s hair back to make sure it didn’t fall into the icing…or the fire, wow that’d be bad!

              “Okay Ellie-girl, make a wish, and then blow out your candles.”

              “Quietly, to yourself babe,” James cautioned her when she opened her mouth, “Don’t tell anyone what you wished—or it won’t come true…also you can’t wish for more wishes.”

              “He says that and yet he tries every year,” Danny drawled, amused.

              “Oi—I’ma be a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ father to our now twenty seven kids.”

              “Twenty sev-“

              “I’ve already picked out their names.”

              Gosh, that was a lot of names! Huh…okay. Wish! Wishes had a lot of rules, but that was okay, she hadn’t been planning to wish for more wishes, she already knew what she wanted!

              _I wish we could always be like this—happy and safe and together!_

              Then she took in a big breath and blew out her candles! She blushed when everyone started cheering and clapping, gosh, all she did was put out some fire!

              Huh…

              “Honey?” Maggie asked, resting a hand on Ellie’s shoulder, “everything okay?”

              “Uh-huh!” she assured—everything was! Mostly. It was dumb! But…well she had the thought…Papi and Tio and Abuelita, they all knew she was a mage, and they were fine with it, and that was great, that was all she needed, really. She had the thought that if she’d _set_ her candles on fire with magic, these people that loved her, her friends, wouldn’t be clapping or cheering. They’d be afraid and they’d hate her. But…well, that was okay. It was. Magic was her friend, but to people who didn’t have it, it could seem scary, and she understood that, she guessed it just sort of hurt her magic’s feelings? And that made her a little sad. But maybe some day people wouldn’t be so afraid of magic! Maybe there’d come a time when Templars weren’t always looking for free mages and trying to lock them away for aspos…arpos? Apostacy! Gosh! She couldn’t even pronounce the crime they’d charge her with—it was a hard word!

              There was always hope for the future. And her present? It wasn’t anything she could complain about. She was so incredibly blessed.

              “Alright Ellie-girl, cake, and then you can open your presents,” Papi was saying as he helped Maggie cut up the cake to serve it.

              she asked, surprised. What- oh! Tio and James and Danny were all pulling these wrapped up boxes from behind Dana’s counter!

              “Presents?!”

              “Uh-huh,” Papi said.

              She…she had so many friends! And they all had birthdays!

              “I’m gonna have to get a job!”

              That had Papi looking at her and thinking for a moment like he was trying to figure out why she needed a job, but, “Not all presents need bought Ellie-girl, but…yeah, you’re not going out and getting a job, but…we could talk about doling out a bit of allowance. You are nine after all.”

              “Allowance?” Ellie asked.

              “You know, for beigng a good kid, helping out around the house—washing dishes, cleaning up your room, helping your Abuelita find her glasses,” Tio listed off casually, and then he had this weird look on his face, looking to Papi like he was nervous to suggest, “walking the dog.”

              …d…dog?

              Papi’s eyebrows shot up as he whipped around to look at Tio. “Dog?”

              Tio smiled innocently, like he wasn’t sure why papi sounded so sharp, “Uh-huh…you know. Four legs, tail? Cute little puppy dog eyes?” he rattled off as he backed into a door behind the counter and pushed it open. And then there was the patter of paws against the hardwood and out from behind the counter trotted- oh- oh gosh!

              “We have a puppy?!” Ellie asked excitedly, oh gosh he- she- they were so little! Not quite a baby puppy, they came up to Ellie’s knee but still, little! And cute! A fluffy black mabari that came right up to Ellie, sniffed at her before going up on their hindlegs, so she knelt to pet them and got so much licks to the face! “They’re so cute!”

              “Yeah he is, isn’t he, love?” Tio asked Thom.

              Thom looked to Maggie who…looked a little playfully guilty, like she’d known about the puppy and approved but hadn’t clued Papi in.

              Papi sighed, and shook his head as he conceded, “Yeah. Yeah I guess he is.”

  

 

* * *

 

 

              Thom smiled to himself as he heard the quiet tip-toe of tiny feet heading for the Wintersend tree for the third time since he’d put those little feet to bed—she was trying for stealth, but he was listening for her, and too, it was a bit difficult to be incognito when you were trailed after by your dutiful Mabari. Samson was a good, noble pup, and he never left Ellie-girl’s side. When she was up, he was right there with her, followed her throughout her day, and oh did she love the sweet animal—she doted on him, and she’d a constant companion for comfort or play. He’d had some reservations with Cyril springing a puppy on them, but mother’d been in on the plot and it was her house, and he couldn’t deny that he did feel better about times when Ellie and Maggie were home on their own without him or Cyril around—a Mabari barking to alert his owner there was someone trying to break in could usually dissuade most opportunists, and the pup was getting bigger and bigger every week, it wouldn’t be long before he was a fearsome thing to ward off any who would seek to his owners any harm, strong enough to defend Ellie if necessary. And he was all so very gentle with Ellie—that was equally important. He wanted Samson to tear the throat out of any bastard wanting to lay so much as a finger on Ellie, but he’d take care of the mutt himself if he dared to harm her—he’d warned Cyril of that right out the gate when they did finally have a talk about Mabari ownership, if he so much as nipped their girl, he was out. But he was always careful with her, he was already her size and growing still, he easily outweighed her, and it seemed like he knew that and was mindful, never knocked into her, but always close enough that there was more than one occasion where the Mabari had kept the girl upright when she otherwise would have tripped.

              Ahh. While he never tripped her, his paw’s padding across the floor did give it away in full, that Ellie was up again to investigate the promise of Wintersend magic. Thom was still up of course, keeping guard and waiting for his excitable nine year old to tire and truly go to sleep so he could make said magic happen. Though he supposed he could get away with a bit of it—seeing her with the ‘eyes in the back of his head’ as he kept his gaze on the Markham Tribune he was looking through while he waited,

              “Elena Mariana…” he warned, no fierceness to it, just playful caution, “are we checking to see if you’ve gotten anything for Wintersend? What’ve we told you?”

              She sighed, and he had to try and keep a straight face as the girl, hair wild, clad in her nightgown came to stand before the arm chair he was seated in to pout at him, petting the pup at her side as she complained,  “I can’t help it! Sabes que—you said it was _magic_ and I wanna see! I’ve never heard of magic that makes presents just appear at Wintersend.”

              “Well…there is,” ‘cause he was the adult and he said so, so there, “You’re hearing of it now—when you wake up tomorrow morning, I assure you, there will be presents under that tree,” Thom promised.

              Ellie nodded, “Okay…but if it doesn’t work, if it turns out there isn’t any magic, don’t be sad okay Papi?” the girl sought to preemptively comfort him. Maker. Help him. “I don’t need presents—oh! But I’d go get you something if you wanted-“

              “Sweetheart, don’t worry about it, okay? Go get some rest—you’ll see in the morning, alright?”

              “Alright,” she conceded, “Don’t stay up too late, okay?” ha! He’d go to bed the second he was finished getting presents out of hiding.

              “I won’t,” he assured her, “now, off to bed Miss Rainier, have sweet dreams,” he intoned, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

              “Sweet dreams papi!” she wished him, kissing him on the cheek before returning to her bedroom. “Come on Sammy, back to bed.”

              Three weeks. For three, blessed, beautiful weeks, Ellie had been officially declared ‘Elena Mariana Rainier’ on…what was now considered her official birth certificate, that listed Thom Rainier as her biological father. Her ‘birth’ name was…well he’d wanted to give her something solid—a name she could fall back on for strength, ‘Ellie’ was like a pet name, something you called someone as a form of endearment _or_ to pacify them, talk down to them, having it be short for something with a bit more _umf_ would likely help her in the future, at least on some level even if it was purely psychological. And…he’d wanted to make certain she had a bit of connection to her roots, a name that she liked, that she felt good about, that connected her to her Antivan heritage. It was a part of her, and she should be proud of that. She was now a citizen of the Free Marches, and 100% indisputably his daughter. _And_ , with the name on the ‘mother’ side of this certificate was pure fabrication, his mother had secured everything he needed that provided the ‘magical history’ of Ellie’s ‘maternal family’—not a single mage had been born to that false family, and neither was there truly any heritage of magic in the Rainier family, not in recorded history. So, that was a bit of help—mages in the family usually put their descendants under scrutiny, Templars would come ‘round every once in a while to check in on things and make certain of any children in the family’s magical status. There was not a reason in this world for any unexpected Templar investigations into his little girl, and that certainly helped him sleep at night.

              He had absolute claim to her now, no one could swoop in and whisk her away…

              …and now, he’d just one thing more to secure, in regard to familial connection. He nervously checked the breast pocket of his guardsman overcoat—just to be certain the ring box was still safe and sound.

              Though he nearly jumped out of his skin when Cyril was suddenly just behind him, Maker, he’d not heard him get up! “I think Ellie-girl’s out,” he said quietly.

              He was pretty sure third time was the charm, “Yeah,” Thom agreed, “let’s do a little magic.”

              It was a hard thing, finding a good place to hide Wintersend presents—he didn’t want Ellie accidentally coming across them, and there weren’t a great many places she couldn’t get to that weren’t already used up storage-wise…Maggie showed him a good place though, conveniently enough it was in his bedroom.

              If someone told him a year ago that next Wintersend he’d be _grateful_ his mother had hidey-holes underneath the floorboards in her old drug den, originally intended to hide said drugs and various other items of ill repute in the event of a guardsman raid, he’d have told them they were batshit crazy. Probably throw a punch or two. But damn that space could now be taken up with a good amount of festively wrapped packages. They’d all gotten a little something for one another—the adults in the family, and then of course they’d each gotten one or two things for Ellie. And Samson—he was on the Wintersend list now as well.

              He carefully hung up his coat by the door while Cyril double checked everything—that all doors were locked, and their house was secure for the night before going to bed. And then Thom washed up a bit, and fell into bed, asleep almost immediately, Maker, he was exhausted. They’d finally tracked down those damn- there was this band of thieves targeting shoppers coming out of department stores in the upper city, anyone carrying a giftbox was fair game to these people, they’d been stockpiling things to sell off or use themselves, more often than not things had receipts with them, and thankfully they’d returned quite a few stolen items to the store—they walked away with money that wasn’t theirs, but they left the receipts. When the connection was made between stolen items and dishonest returnees, the guards ended up with a handful of receipts and he’d…well it was getting dangerously close to Wintersend and for one thing, he did _not_ want to risk being called in to investigate this further on the holiday, and for another, he wanted these bastards caught. So. He might have ‘accidentally’ brought a few receipts home and let Ellie-girl look at them, hold them, and then they went on a little patrol of their own. They just walked around the city and she listened to her magic, and when they were certain they were near the thieves’ hiding place, Thom sent word—an anonymous tip to his unit, so one of the lads could get a crack at finding the thieving ring, and then he’d gone and helped with the take-down. It’d been rather a large operation, and they’d been very determined to get away, so, he was sore as hell, but he got a nice pat on the back for helping capture them, and one of the younger recruits got to shine his star with the find. Thom didn’t want to make a career off his mage daughter’s magic giving him insight, he’d never use her or risk her getting caught an apostate that way. But it had been markedly fun, and while he didn’t…he’d be scared shitless if she ever came home one day saying she wanted to be a guardswoman, but there’d been a bit of pride that she had enjoyed some aspect of his work, investigating things and helping people.

              And she certainly helped them wake up. Good lord, what time was it even? Didn’t particularly matter, she’d gotten enough sleep, and Maker, she was excited, that was enough to have him in good enough spirits.

              “Papi, papi! Tio! Wake up wake up wake up!” Ellie breathlessly implored as she bounced on them, Samson following suit, laying across their legs while he let out his loudest _‘wuff!’_

              “What’sa’matter Ellie-girl?” Thom played dumb.

              “It worked! You were right—Wintersend magic! There’s presents for you and Tio and Abuelita! Come on, lets go!”

              A warm smile spread across Cyril’s face as he sat him, rubbing sleep from his eyes before using his hands to tickle at Ellie’s sides, pull her into his lap, “Come on baby girl, we got you, let’s go check out the haul, yeah? I heard you were a very good girl this year so I bet there’s one or two things under that tree for you.”

              “Let’s go get Abuelita!” Ellie enthused as Cyril swung his legs over the edge of the bed, hoisting her with him as he rose to his feet, Samson dropping off the bed after them to follow close behind, and Thom sighed, rubbing his face a bit to help wake up before he made the effort to get up, Maker, his back was sore, but it was well worth it. From a job he was proud of, protecting people, protecting his family, providing for his family.

              He was kind of hoping there’d be a certificate for a massage in his Wintersend stocking though. That’d be deeply appreciated.

              Kind of got one though, Mother was on the couch and Cyril was seated in the armchair and Ellie was on her knees before the tree, digging out presents for everyone, and when Thom sat down, he did so on the floor next to her, seated just in front of the armchair and that…worked out pretty well in his favor. Cyril massaged his shoulders once he sat down, Maker, it was a comfort thing but it really did help.

              “You work too hard, love,” Cyril commented quietly as his thumbs dug into stiff muscle. Talk about the pot and the kettle—the man would work himself blind if Ellie wasn’t constantly reining him in…Thom too, really, the girl always fretted after him.

              “Papi! This one’s for you!” Ellie said, handing Thom a package from under the tree, and he smiled.

              “Ellie-girl go ahead and open up one of your own presents too,” he reprimanded.

              “Let’s all open some up together, that’ll be fun!” she compromised. He was pretty sure she could have suggested they all collectively jump off a bridge with that enthusiasm and he’d have readily agreed.

              It was fun—Ellie-girl loved the little chess set he made her, he’d been working on it ever since she came home that first week she’d gone with Maggie to her college classes—she’d met that Professor Farkus and the man had given her an introductory lesson in chess, and she’d loved it. Cyril was pleased with the book mother had gotten for him, some text about poultices he’d been after that she tracked down for him—he’d started going to school when the Spring semester opened up a week after First Day, Maker Thom was proud of him. And he was proud of himself too when mother opened her Wintersend gift from him, a necklace and earrings to match, he was glad it made her smile, she really did deserve something nice and Ellie was already suggesting the woman wear her new jewelry to her next college lecture. And Thom rather liked the blue and silver striped tie Ellie-girl’d picked out for him when her Maggie took her shopping for Wintersend—though he nearly died when the girl innocently suggested he use his new tie when he and Tio had ‘grown-up time’. She knew it was some aspect of dating, she just didn’t know what, so, as far as she was concerned, Thom and Cyril were two consenting adults eating dinner together. And that’s the only thing this tie would be used for—wearing to a nice dinner out somewhere. Maker.

              He was relieved when the girl moved on to helping Samson open one of his presents—a nice big raw meat bone for him to chew on which he readily took to. So, Thom supposed he liked it.

              It was once all their presents were open, that it…it was time. Oh Maker, help him. Preserve his soul, or maybe strike him dead—either one would work at this point.

              “That looks like everything sweetpea,” Cyril said as he sat back in his seat.

              Ellie-girl played her part just right. She was in on this bit of Wintersend magic, had fetched the ring box before waking them and hidden it in her nightgown pocket, she moved forward a bit, seemed like she was just looking under the tree to make certain there weren’t any more presents as she clenched the box in hand and subtly reached that hand out under the tree like she were reaching for a present she’d just found,

              “Oh gosh! There’s one more present here Tio! It’s for you!”

              Thom was in a good position to just turn around, sit up on his damn knee as the girl came to join him, standing with her back against his chest as he wrapped an arm around her. He might be having a heart attack—but maybe he’d die happy.

              Maybe not, Cyril looked at them like Thom had grown a second head, staring wide eyed at the ring box in Ellie’s little hands as she opened it, presenting it to Thom’s damn manfriend of fifteen on-again, off-again, permanently on-again years.

              “Sergeant Cyril Ainsworth,” she formally addressed him, “Would you do us the honor of marrying my papi and being my papa?”

              Oh…oh it looked like the man might cry, and he was beyond relieved when Cyril said, “Of course, baby girl,” and then he looked to Thom, “I thought you’d never damn ask.”

              Never, huh? Well, if they’d learned anything these past few months, ‘never’ could be tested. Under these stars, there was a first time for everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Antivan/Ciriane:  
> Sabes Que=slang that means 'you know what?!' usually used for sass or defensively or as an oath, like when people say "I swear to God I'll do *this*!"
> 
> Cherie=Sweetheart  
> Mon Ami=my friend
> 
> End Notes:  
> *372 days in a year=the Thedas Calendar has 12 months, and every month has 31 days, so, years are 372 days long.
> 
> *Hasmal is a settlement on the Free Marches/Tevinter border, where many people escape the Imperium, so the culture is very Tevene.
> 
> *Vivienne de Fer's parents were traveling merchants in her youth before she was sent to a Circle, there are a few different places in to Seek the Truth that I hint at this relation, that Ellie's worked in the kitchens at an establishment Vivienne's parents own in retirement, but that hasn't out-in-out come out yet in the story, it's a super small background detail, but what's up, what's good, I think about this crap so here it is!
> 
> *Professor Farkus is mentioned in a conversation with Sera in Chapter 13 of To Seek the Truth. I'll pay fake money (but in actual emotional love I will feel with my heart-place) if anyone 1) actually reads this story and 2) can guess where I'm going with this side plot. 
> 
> *The Dragon and the Nug is, of course, based off of the children's story 'The Lion and the Mouse' there's at least two different versions of this story, one where the lion gets a thorn in his paw and another where the lion gets caught in a hunters net and the mouse chews through the ropes to set him free. I always thought the net version made no sense, because kitties big and small got knife-hands and sharp ass teeth, likewise with Dragons, so I went with the thorn/stick version.
> 
> Thanks for reading <3


	3. Seda/Sera

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You would like to teach Eleanor math…and science? Of what sort?” Cassandra asked.
> 
> Sera nodded. “Littler math to start and see where she is, work her up to algebra soon enough I reckon. Science’s easier sort of, we'd do basic things, but she could do a little chemistry’n’pish for fun and application,” she flushed, ducking her head and Cassandra felt badly, she was sure she’d given some sign of hesitation in her expression—she did not think the girl was an ignorant and she’d spoken of her education to some degree, but 'fun and application' sounded like experiments and experiments and Sera didn’t sound like a safe mix, but the young Elf defended, “Look. If you…if you poke around the University of Markham, Professor Farkus, he uh, might remember me. I applied for their Chemistry program few years back, got accepted. Full scholarship gig, he thought my shite was impressive.”
> 
> "You studied at the University of Markham?"
> 
> “I was Inky’s age, needed um, permission, in the end,” the girl shrugged. “Lady shut it down big time."
> 
> \--To Seek the Truth, Chapter 13
> 
> Here be another divergence from canon and fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little disclaimer/If you haven't read to Seek the Truth you might be like "Wait, what, this isn't Sera? What's going on? What is this bullshit?"  
> In to Seek the Truth, Sera's backstory is based on snippets we get about it from the game itself, that I more fully flesh out in fanfic. Sera's interest in science and mathematics comes from me looking at different things she does in game for her pranks, and inferring things about the fact that she was taken in by nobility when she was a young orphan picked up by authorities for theft, she would have been sent to live in an Alienage if Lady Emmauld hadn't taken her in, (little blips in game of her life with Lady don't paint the woman in a saintly light) and she was raising Sera to take over her estate when she died because she has no children of her own. So, Sera was likely raised with a banging education and severe emotional/possibly physical abuse. Sera in canon inherits the estate, and turns it over to her government in full instead of assuming control of it and using it. Instead of playing noblewoman, she goes off on her own and that's when she meets the Friends of Red Jenny. 
> 
> In a conversation from To Seek The Truth, Chapter Thirteen, Sera asks if she can have a spot tutoring Young!Inquisitor in science and math since she's never had any formal education before. When Sera thinks Cassandra's about to shoot down the idea because Sera doesn't always sound like the most educated person in the room, the above conversation unfolds. I didn't mean for it at the time, but it led to inspiration for this fic. So, here we are. Thanks for reading! Enjoy <3
> 
> This chapter ended up needing split in half due to length, so...the second half will be up as soon as it's finished. Since this part is complete, it's going up solo for now!

              One plus one is two. Plus one is three. Plus two is five. Plus three is eight. Plus five is thirteen. Plus eight is twenty-one...

              Okay, breathing again, normally. Fibs help. Fibonacci sequence, the next number is found by adding up the two numbers before it. When Sera couldn’t breathe or started breathing too friggin’ much, it helped to focus on something simple enough to be solid, progressively hard enough to draw her focus.

              This was dumb, this was so dumb, she was an  _idiot._

              Mister Livingston was one of the tutors Lady got for her—Lady Anya Emmauld. Few months back, Sera’s just playin’ around with her latest assignment just- she got caught up in it, took it a bit too far, and somehow ended up impressing the bloke enough he made the comment. One, dumb comment.

               _“You know young lady, you keep this up, you’ll be a shoo-in for University. Orlais has recently rescinded their bias* so long as the student in question is exemplary. Though an associate of mine is a Professor at the University of Markham, if he saw your work, his department would snatch you right up.”_

              Dumb! The dumbest! Sera was a complete moron for hearing that as anything other than some horrible, horrible…not a trap, but like one. Just one great big effort of false hope, all of her own making.

              She’d never thought about University before—she’d never even heard of it before really, outside Lady bragging about how she got Sera ‘all the best tutors’ and would list off their assload of credentials just to impress her people. Acquaintances, not friends, Lady was a bitch, her acquaintances were just as bad—Lords and Ladies and blah blah blah. They were all the same. Anyway, she’d never considered university before and then suddenly it was dangled in front of her and she…well shite, she thought it’d be a way out—Lady’d never dream of boarding school but if she got accepted to University? At ruddy fourteen? Lady could brag about that to all her people for forever, couldn’t she? Orlais would never pass with Lady, even if she'd gotten in, there was no way in hell Lady was letting her leave the country. But Markham, that was still the Free Marches, a day trip from Lady's estate. And…and Sera could…she’d- she’d _have_ to live in Markham, on campus or at least in the city proper to attend uni, and that was reasonable right? She…she could be free. Out of Lady’s house. No more microscope, no more having everything about herself—her interests, her looks, her actions, the words she said, how she says them, who she says them to, being speculated on and picked apart by Lady at every turn. No more hiding in the attic just to get away, no more Cook spying on her and taking every order Lady gave her to ‘watch Sera’s diet’.  No more-

              Lots more. Sera ruddy applied to University behind Lady’s back—she wanted an acceptance before she brought it up with the woman, so she could paint the whole picture, how great of a ‘mother’ would she seem if the poor little orphan knife-ear she took in got into Uni years in advance. And if she hadn’t gotten in she- she- things were bad enough already, if Lady had been in on it with her and she’d gotten rejected, she wanted to die just thinking about it.

              And now she just wanted to die. She’d gotten accepted. Tutor got in touch with his ‘associate’, Professor Farkus, and the guy offered her a full scholarship if she’d study under his Chemistry department. Which frick  _yeah_ , that was Sera’s jam. Just one problem. It wasn’t- ugh! It wasn’t just ‘hey Lady, guess what! I’ve been accepted to uni, see you never!’ she needed the woman’s  _ruddy permission._

              And yeah, Lady’d been over the moon about her acceptance—something to brag about.

              But she sure as hell wasn’t actually going to let Sera  _go._ It was enough for the bitch to be able to brag that Sera’d been accepted. She didn’t need her to actually go do anything with that acceptance, Lady got to have her cake and eat it too. Sera hadn’t had cake in forever. Didn’t look like she’d be getting any, anytime soon.

              This was miserable—the worst part, the absolute worst, horrible part of it all? Sera was currently slumping in a seat in some ruddy hallway of  _Markham University_. Waiting for Lady to stop getting off on the praise Sera could faintly hear Professor Farkus laying on her—how talented Sera was, how much he really did wish Lady would reconsider. Lady Emmauld had only agreed to bring Sera because the Professor had written this big flowery letter, asking Sera to come in for an interview with her guardian, detailing this whole list of things they could do, other applicants would be there, lots of them with parents tagging along, there’d be some big fancy dinner, it was all a part of Lady collecting ammunition for her next luncheon or dinner party. So, they were here, and Sera just…what was the point? She was so frustrated she could cry.

              “Hola, Hola, como estas—estoy muy bien gracias,” someone was singing, sounded like some kind of kiddy song, the sound of feet skipping up the hall, “Buenos dias, Buenos- oh! Hello!”

              That was loud enough to be directed at her so Sera looked up, sat up straight  _shite_ if Lady knew she’d been slouching- oh. It was some kid. Looked a little younger than Sera, dark skin, hair was friggin’ wild though, curly and red and shite she was a smiley one. Oh holy crap! She had a ruddy dog with her—great big black mabari trailing after her, holy-

              “Hello,” Sera offered politely.

              “Is mi Abuelo busy?”

              “Yeah your uh…what?”

              Kid giggled, “My grandpa,” she explained, “Abuelita’s stuck in a lecture so she’s running late for lunch, but she sent Sammy and me on ahead. Oh! Don’t be scared, it’s okay, this is Samson, he’s a sweetheart, he’s practically a baby he’d never ever hurt you promise, you can pet him if you want.”

              Yeah she was gonna be scared all she wanted, she wasn’t touching that pup for anything, Maker. “No thanks,” and the girl nodded in understanding, putting her right hand back on the pup’s head like she was petting him and making sure he didn’t step any closer to Sera which uh…well that was nice. “Uhh, your grandpa’s Professor Farkus?” seriously? The guy was paler than friggin’ snow, “He’s busy right now too, in a meeting with my uh, guardian.”

              “Really? Oh wow- oh wow!” she exclaimed excitedly, “You’re Seda*, aren’t you?” blah. Yeah. ‘Seda’, whatever, yeah, she’d always be stuck as, “Seda Emmauld? It’s so cool to actually meet you, abuelo’s been talking about you for months! I’m Ellie!” she introduced herself, thrusting out her left hand to shake, huh. Sera had to catch herself, she uh, crap. She snorted, but it was only cause,

              “Nice to meet you, Inky,” she offered, carefully shaking the girl’s hand, only taking hold of her fingers—she had this great big ink stain on the palm of her hand.

              “Oh! Whoops, yeah sorry, I write fast and forget that ink needs time to dry, lost like half my Trade assignment,” she sighed, “I’ll have to redo it tonight.”

              “Maybe wash your clothes too,” Sera sniped, eyeing the swath of ink on the girl’s skirt.

              “Orale,” the girl swore softly, shaking her head, but she smiled up at Sera, offering laughingly, “Just wait till my papi sees-“ oh shit.

              “He’s gonna be real mad huh?” Sera…frick, she worried, the kid was- she was a little kid, tiny…oh man if Sera got her things dirty Lady’d take the cane to her, that was bad enough and she was just some old bitch, ‘papi’ implied ‘father’ which meant a grown ass man, “I- uh, crap, I don’t know, maybe we can clean it up real quick and he’ll never see-“ Sera wasn’t even sure where to begin cleaning a stain but shite, maybe they could find someone.

              The girl regarded her quietly for a moment, like she thought something was strange, and she seemed to be trying to reassure her, “Oh gosh, papi wouldn’t be mad over a little ink stain—he’s going to laugh I mean, he thinks it’s hilarious. I’m pretty clumsy, so I’m always coming home with a little something on me that I didn’t mean to get there, he just shakes his head and laughs.”

              Really? “He won’t get mad you were walking around looking stupid?”

              “…my dress is still nice,” Ellie said, “and it can be cleaned. I mean I got the stain writing an essay…though I did mess it up so yeah it’s a little stupid? More like silly—I’m not dumb just because I messed up. I just need to pay better attention to what I’m doing, and I’m getting better at that,” she shrugged.

              Huh. Yeah that um, that made sense, “Sorry, I wasn’t uh, trying to be mean or anything.”

              “It’s okay…Seda, does someone say things like that to you?”

              All the time. Sera shrugged, “Sooo…Farkus is your grandpa? That’s why you’re rolling around campus?”

              “Uh-huh! He married my Abuelita last Fall! I got to be a flower girl and my best friend Ciel was the ring bearer, and my papa was a groomsman so he walked Ciel’s mami down the aisle—she was a brides maid! And my Papi, he walked Abuelita down the aisle, ‘gave her away’ or whatever you call it—it was super sweet!”

              “Your dad had to pull double duty, huh?”

              She looked confused at that and then, “Oh! No—Papa and Papi are separate people, but they’re both my padres—my parents! They got married the Spring before, back when my grandparents just started dating.”

              “Oh sh-dang, you have two dads?”

              “Uh-huh. They’re the best!”

              “So you don’t have a mom? Like at all?”

              She shook her head ‘no’, “At least, not anymore. I um…came to live with my Papi when I was eight, and then when he and papa Cyril got married, he adopted me. What about you? You’re here with your um, ‘guardian’?”

              Sera nodded. “Lady adopted me when I was a tot. Parents died or something.” They were dead, just wasn’t real clear on the details of that, and she wasn’t exactly trying to remember either. She didn’t remember a hell of a lot, ‘cept being starving and scared and just trying to get by when the guards snatched her up, threatened to throw her in the alienage. Lady stepped in and ‘saved’ her.

              “Oh! So you have a mami?”

              “No. I don’t.”

              “…oh,” Ellie nodded, seemed to think it over a bit. “Um…hey you know what, I’m starving—if Abuelo is still busy with your Lady, why don’t you come with me and get some lunch? I can only go to Abuelo’s office because I promised I’d come straight here and Samson’s walking me, but I can’t go to the dining hall all by myself without a grown up knowing where I’m going, and they’d want someone with me—you’re a big kid, and Abuelo knows who you are, so that’d work!”

              Sera was hungry too but she wasn’t sure Lady’d be cool with her leaving to go eat with some kid…but she was little, and she said she was hungry, “I dunno maybe you should ask someone-“ someone else, she was going to say but Ellie smiled and ran with it, literally—she went right up to Professor Farkus’s door and pushed it open enough just to pop her head inside,

              “Abuelo—abuelita todavia esta en clase, tengo hambre, entonces la chica inteligente me lleva a almorzar. Esta bien con ustedes dos?”

              “Oh certainly, mija—you don’t mind Lady Emmauld, do you?”

              “Oh, of course not?” Lady offered, confused.

              “Go on, enjoy yourselves,” Professor Farkus said, “We’re not quite done here—would you ask Leo to send along another tray of tea?”

              “Si! Gracias Abuelo—te amo siempre!”

              He chuckled warmly at that, “Te amo siempre. Have fun, be safe.”

              She closed the door to his office and offered her hand to Sera, “They said okay.”

              “Lady didn’t mean-“

              “Wellll, I asked them both. I told him the ‘brilliant girl’—that’s you, that’s what he calls you—is going to lunch with me, ‘Esta bien con ustedes dos?’” she shrugged, “I can’t help if your Lady doesn’t understand Antivan.”

              …you know what, she was probably still going to get hell for it later, but that was pretty sneaky, and yeah, she kind of did want to take some of the piss out of Lady Emmauld. It wasn’t like she could make her life any more miserable—she was stuck, she knew it, so she might as well enjoy whatever she can while she can. “Okay, let’s go.”

              “Yay!” Ellie whooped, offering her hand, “Oh-,” she moved to offer her clean one but Sera went ahead and took the ink stained one anyway, eh, it was just a little ink—if it got on her, Lady Emmauld could eat it. “Thanks—it’s safer to hold hands, ‘cause then we won’t get separated!” she said, leading Sera down the hall, only stopping to pop her head into an open doorway of a tiny little office a few students were gathered in, all seated at big desks working, “Mister Leo?”

              “Well hey angel, what’s up?” asked one of the…huh…boys? She called him Mister and he was dressed like a man, hair cropped short, shaved all around the sides with just a little length up top that was brushed back,and Sera couldn’t see any bits under his shirt, but his face was very um…not mannish. She was pretty sure he wasn’t uh…his neck didn’t have any bump juttin’ out of it. Oh, frick, Sera’d been kind of staring and he pulled at the collar of his shirt a bit, self-consciously.

              Ellie gave him a great big smile, “You look so very handsome today, that’s what’s up guapo!” she encouraged, “Is your tunic new? It might be scratchy, but it looks very dashing on you! Abuelo is still in his meeting—would you mind please taking him and his guest some more tea?”

              He smiled back, relaxed as he said, “Sure thing, sweetie. You’re having a good day I hope?”

              “Uh-huh! I’m taking my new friend Seda to lunch!” Friend?

              “Oh _Seda!”_ Leo brightened at that, like he was excited to meet her, “Professor Farkus showed me some of your research, I’m so glad you could come in for an interview. You’ll be coming here next semester, right?”

              No. “Dunno yet, I uh, need Lady Emmauld’s permission, she’s still…” a bitch, “deciding.”

              “Well Professor Farkus is real excited about you coming here, so I’m sure he’s pulling out all the stops—no way she says no once he’s through with her, I mean he got Professor Rainier to marry him, the guy’s the master of persuasion,” he assured. Nice bloke, Sera’d be sorry if Lady said anything that hurt his feelings, but she’d probably not even look at the guy, just see a er…person bringing tea, someone unimportant. “She have a favorite kind of tea?” Gossip. Especially if it was about someone else doing worse off than her. “We’ve got all kinds, I’ll brew up whatever she likes best, anything might help, you know.”

              Nothing would help. “That’s nice, but uh…you don’t have to go to any trouble, tea’ll all turn out the same.”

              “Abeulo loves peppermint tea, it’s super good!” Ellie offered up, “It always makes me happy, so maybe it’ll make Lady Emmauld happy too!”

              “On it,” Leo said, “You two headed to the dining hall? Rumor has it, it’s tator tot day,” he offered conspiratorially, and Ellie drew in a long gasp.

              “I’m going to eat so much tots," she whispered breathlessly, before beaming up at the man, "—thanks for the heads up!”

              “Anytime, have fun,” he offered as he got up to go to the back of the room, oh, there was a fireplace there, little kitchenette set up too, cool.

              Ellie led her out of the building and across the courtyard, to the back door of a great big Library, “It’s wicked cold out,” she said, “so I hope you don’t mind but it’s a bit of a short cut and warmer to cut through here.” Huh, yeah it was kind of chilly, Spring semester was underway but spring just hadn’t quite ‘sprung’ yet. But the library was real warm, toasty even, though Sera felt a little queasy, like she was nervous—it was so big, and Maker there were so many books and- she…she really did want this. And that was stupid. All these years with Lady, she should have learned by now not to want things. “You okay? We can look around a bit if you want—they’ve got like, a bajillion books on just about everything here, and this is only one of their libraries! This one’s open to the public—the rest are student and faculty only, but you’re a prospective student and no one minds me coming around since mi abuelos are professors and my papa Cyril's staff too, a security guard, but he’s also student—Cyril, he’s graduating next fall from their Healer’s program!”

              “We…can look around a bit I guess,” Sera supposed. Kind of stupid, sort of like rubbing salt in her own wounds, but maybe…Lady at least got her access to learning things, if Sera could play it cool and not seem too eager about it, if she found a few titles here she was interested in, Lady would get them for her. “Don’t take it you know where their chemistry section would be?”

              “Oh wowza, that’s upstairs! Like up up _up,_ but I can take you, no problem! I help Mister Danny restack the books all the time—he’s graduating this spring, he majors in Trade and Literature. His boyfriend James graduated last spring with an engineering degree—he’s helping build onto the Chantry we go to down town, it’s a super big job—he’s just the best!”

              …boyfriend huh? That…Sera wasn’t expecting to find so much uh…acceptance? If Lady knew where Sera got off to on her constitutionals—walks she was allowed to take by herself for her ‘health’— she’d wring Sera’s neck. That…just kind of made her all the more depressed. This…this was the sort of place she’d be out from under Lady’s bony thumb, she could…she wouldn’t have to go sneaking around all the time just to trail after some girl she was interested in, not even kissing or nothin’ but…she was pretty sure Mack liked her. Liked-liked her. Sera was just too nervous to do anything about it, scared the other girl might not like her that way and react badly or it’d mess up what little they had going, or Lady’d find out somehow and- it just wasn’t ever going to end well for her.

              “Hey Seda? Is everything okay?” Ellie asked.

              Sera startled at that, she’d sort of not been paying attention though cripes, they really had gone up up up—legs were burning from the stairs she’d blindly followed the girl up, shite. Head felt a little swimmy, maybe they should’ve headed on to lunch first but uh…she wasn’t sure if she should really eat or not, Lady still wanted her measurements down and they were expected at this dinner party later, where she’d be expected to eat so she was supposed to be saving her ‘calories’ or whatever for then. “Yeah sweets, everything’s all good,” she assured the girl.

              “…okay, you’re sure? Um, I know we only just met, but if somethings the matter and I can help you, I’d like to, okay? Are you feeling alright, you’re kind of pale?”

              Sera shrugged, “Everyone probably looks pale to you—you’re Antivan right?”

              “Uh-huh—about the Antivan, I’m usually a good judge on regular pale and sickly pale. Are you Antivan?”

              … “No?” why the hell would she think that?

              “I was just curious—your name is, is all,” Ellie explained as she led her along the bookshelves, “Seda’s Antivan—for silk! It’s a really pretty name.”

              That- frick. She wasn’t sure, maybe her uh, birth people came from up that way. Sometimes she could remember clan-time, being just tiny, wrapped up and carried on somebody’s back, sometimes their ear tickled hers when she napped with her head resting on their shoulder. Just vague flashes, of being someplace warm, so warm, and sunny, a mix of knife-ear speak, and Antivan words spoken around her.

              “Dunno. You’re Antivan, but Ellie don’t sound like an Antivan name.”

              “It’s short for Elena—Elena Mariana Rainier,” she offered up cheerily. Yeah, middle names were a thing she guessed, couldn’t remember her own for the life of her, wasn’t like Lady ever used it, only ever called her  _Seda_ in that friggin skin crawly way, like a hissing croon.  _Sssay-dah. Sssay-dah say-dah, say-_ duh. Most kids was afraid of hearing their full name. she hears her first three times, and she heard it often, she knew she was screwed, in for a tearing down or a slap or the cane. Sometimes three for three. Friggin hated her name, sort of made her glad Mack heard her wrong the first time they met—Seda wasn’t a normal person name, or at least not for the Free Marches, lots of people needed her to repeat it, Mack heard her stammer out her name was ‘Seda’ and went ‘Sera? Cool, I’m Mack’ short for Mackenzie or whatever. Sera’d been too nervous to correct her—she was so pretty and cool and talking to her, introduced her to her friends…Sera had sort-of friends. Name sort of stuck, and if…if anything did get to anyone that’d tattle to Lady if they heard the name ‘Seda’, they’d not know to go tattle. Duality kind of helped, when she was Sera, she could just…be herself, no scrutiny, or judgement, or pish. Way different from being Sssseda. Ruddy didn’t even sound like a name sometimes. Ellie said it nice though, probably ‘cause she knew how to say it, didn’t hiss it out or over emphasize…or maybe it was just she wasn’t saying it mean, with underlying condescension, just sweet, chirpy ‘Seda!’

              “Your um…your name’s pretty too,” Sera replied, “Long and short version—I um, wasn’t making fun of it or nothin’.”

              “I didn’t think you were,” the girl shrugged.

              Cool. Okay, books…holy shit there were so many books—bajillion wasn’t a number, but uh, it might as well be. This was only  _one_ of their libraries? Some of the titles were familiar ones, things she’d already read, textbooks she was currently working through. Huh, maybe she shouldn’t ask Lady for new books but uh, tell Livingston—he could make up a reading list or whatever? It was nearly summer, he’d take the months off, but assign her reading, Lady always supplied whatever he listed, yeah. If it came off like obligation, like something to keep Sera from having any fun during summer vacation, Lady’d get that list checked off in a heartbeat.

              Sp…speaking of heartbeat, she could hear her own in her ears pretty loud, a sort of  _thump…thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump._

              “Seda? Oof!” Ellie let out a little grunt, she- had she fallen? Ellie was holding her up, supporting Sera’s weight against her,“Um, hey come on, let’s sit down okay?” she suggested, that- that dog, mabari or whatever, Samson, he…well he might not be bad, he came on Sera’s other side, sort of seemed like he was making sure she wouldn’t fall. So uh. Good boy? Shit, she knew how to work her own legs, what the hell was going on? Ellie got her into one of the soft, cushiony armchairs by a low coffee table, few other matchin’ chairs around it but Ellie sat on the coffee table, leaning forward to look up into Sera’s face, kid was at least two feet shorter than her, Sera…she went and had a friggin growth spurt recently like an idiot, that’s why Lady was so pissy about her weight-

              “Seda, have you eaten at all today?” Ellie wondered.

              “I’m fine, sorry, just uh, got dizzy or whatever. Happens sometimes, its no big d-“

              “Oi! It’s a super big deal, Ser- er, Seda, you’re shaking, and pale, and gosh I’m so sorry, I should have taken you straight to lunch-“

              “’m not hungry anyway-“

              “That’s crap!” Ellie friggin snapped at her! She…she didn’t seem the sort to get snappy. “Are you sick, is your tummy upset or something and that’s why you haven’t eaten?”

              “I eat fine-“

              “If I go get my papa, he’d call bull. I came up with- I knew a Healer really well once, and I help papa study—you haven’t been eating fine. Did you eat anything yesterday?”

              Uh, yeah, friggin…what’d she eat? “Breakfast,” she shot out before thinking about it, yeah that wouldn’t sound normal—but just ‘cause it didn’t sound normal didn’t mean it- it wasn’t the way it was supposed to be, she put on twenty friggin pounds during her growth spurt-

              “Seda…” Ellie was staring at her wide-eyed, oh shit she looked sort of weepy, tears welled up in ‘em, crap, “Samson, ve por Maggie,” she commanded and the mabari let out a quiet ‘wuff’ like he knew he was in a library and had to keep his voice down, before trotting off, racing down the line of shelves and toward the stairs. Who the frick was Maggie? “Let’s just sit, okay? Um…I have an apple in my coat pocket—you want it?”

              Yes…no…maybe? Friggin she wanted to eat…and it was one apple, and maybe if she rinsed out her mouth really good Lady wouldn’t even realize, and she could just- she didn’t have to eat every last bite on her plate during dinner, it was gonna be one of those ‘seven course’ things anyway, so it’d make sense to uh pace herself or whatever and…friggin this kid looked like she might cry if Sera said ‘no’ and she definitely…she didn’t want to hurt her feelings or nothing. So. “Sure…thanks.”

              “Of course—I’m your friend now, and friends share.”

              “You’re real quick to call some stranger a friend,” Sera scoffed, taking the apple Ellie held out to her and tentatively taking a bite.  _Frick_ it was good.

              “You’re nice, mostly, and you’re really smart, and my abuelo’s been talking about you nonstop for Ages, so, we’re friends! Or at least, I’m your friend, it’s okay if you aren’t mine yet.”

              That was dumb. And nice. Sera didn’t see much point in having some dumb little kid she was only gonna know a few hours as a friend though.

              Ellie was really quiet while Sera ate, seemed to just be letting her do that, and when she was done Ellie took the apple core and wrapped it up in a hanky, tucked it away in her coat pocket to throw away later, then, “Seda, why um, why haven’t you eaten since breakfast yesterday? You don’t, I mean you don’t seem like you’ve got an illness or something, I haven’t um smelled any Elf Root or Crystal Grace on your breath so you’re not taking something for a chronic illness that’d make you nauseated enough not to eat for so long. You don’t have a fever so it’s not a little disease—so what’s going on?”

              “s’not a big deal I just forgot; traveling’s crazy you know? We just got into Markham yesterday afternoon.”

              “What about this morning—most places serve breakfast to their guests, and you’re staying somewhere really nice, right? That hotel just off campus? So why haven’t you eaten today?”

              “Stop making such a fuss over this, cripes, it’s not-“

              “Seda, please, you can be honest with me-“

              “No. I can’t.”

              “Well you can be honest with me,” a pleasant voice said, this kindly lookin’ older lady, frick! Startled her, Sera hadn’t heard her coming up but she was there, coming to sit on the coffee table alongside Ellie, wrapping an arm around the girl, Samson padding up to sit next to the woman, lay his head in her lap huh, he was back, this uh…this was ‘Maggie’ huh? “Sweetheart, you wouldn’t happen to have a copper on you by any chance?”

              Uhh, Sera wasn’t allowed money, but Lady let her hold on to some of the banknotes—didn’t like traveling with clinking coin—in case of emergency while they were out of town. “Y-yeah-“ what the frick? Was this bitch holding her up or something? Seriously, she wanted a copper? The hell she need it for? Sera…she wasn’t sure what the hell was happening, but Ellie saw her reticence and was already digging around in her little purse, shit, like she was going to pay up for her, “here,” Sera supposed, fishing a little banknote the lady could turn in for a proper coin if she wanted, out of her pocket and putting it in the woman’s outstretched hand.

              “You’re feeling okay honey? Can you walk with me please? We’ll head to my office I think,” the woman said, rising to her feet and once she had the note in her suit jacket pocket, she held out her hand to Sera again, to take it. She…friggin’ whatever. Okay. done fighting whatever nonsense is happening right now. Shit, she’s tired. Always tired really.

              This Maggie chick takes Sera’s hand, then Ellie’s and walks them out of the library, into a near by building—mathematics department, frick, that’s so cool, and then she leads them straight into an office with  _M. Rainier_  on a little nameplate on the door, closes that door behind them. Not a bad little set up, lots of book shelves lining the walls, full of books, not just…not just ‘for show’ books either—all the spines was cracked, lots of places. There was a big window behind the desk that let in a bunch of light and the lamps were up, the space was warm, and Sera found herself in another comfortable armchair, seated across the desk from the older woman, Ellie took a seat in the armchair next to Sera’s, Samson resting at her feet. The woman leaned across the desk to extend her hand one more time so Sera leaned forward and took it again, and got a handshake out of it.

              “Professor Margret Rainier, of Rainier Accounting and Law. You’ve put money down with me, to consult my services now, so we’ve officially a space for client privilege,” she jumped right in, taking a seat in the desk chair, “anything you say to me, I can’t repeat elsewhere, it’s completely confidential. Ellie-bug here is my favorite assistant and she’s trustworthy, understands confidentiality, and has sat in on many meetings with me, has a good track record of never breathing a word of anything said inside my office, here or in my place of business. Of course if you’d like us to speak entirely alone, she’ll understand.”

              “My abuelita is very good at her job, she handles super sensitive information all the time, so you can say anything in the world to her and she won’t repeat it, and if anyone can help you, it’s her. I can stay to support you, but if you’d rather be by yourself I’ll go—no one will hear anything you have to say, okay?”

              “I just handed you a copper, that en’t-“ Sera’s objection died in her throat—the woman had been digging through something on her desk, this big folder, and she pulled out a sheet of paper that uh…well pish, it was like a contract or something but- “I’m only fourteen, almost fifteen yeah, but that wouldn't make a difference,” she brought up as the woman signed her own name on a line and handed it over for Sera to sign.

              “Signature please,” Maggie said anyway, so Sera signed. Seda Emmauld. Friggin whatever-

              Oh shit. This lady just…she took out the banknote, Lady’s signature scribbled on the side of it, said, “Mija, you and your friend should turn about, nothing to see here,” she offered innocently, and Ellie smiled, twisting about in her seat to face the back of the chair and Sera turned so she could twist her head to look at the door, could hear the scratch of quill against parchment, Maggie blowing to dry the ink and then, “Oh look, your guardian’s signature, you’re all set my dear.”

              …she…she was either about to be so, so screwed or…or she wasn’t sure what. Was there anything outside of Lady winning, making her life miserable?

              Maybe…maybe there was.

              “No one can hear us?” Sera checked, and Ellie turned to look at her uh, grandmother, and the older woman nodded.

              “Do you trust me?” Ellie asked Sera.

              No. Maybe? Enough. “Yeah.”

              “Gimme one sec,” Ellie said as she hopped out of the chair and left the room, seemed like maybe she was looking around for anyone else in the office, Sera could hear people in other rooms, friggin her pointy ears, they picked up sound better than uh, normal people’s ears…she heard Ellie come back and close the door behind her, and then this real quiet…weird sound, something she hadn’t heard before, almost like a muted ‘pop’ and then uh…well shit, what the hell happened? Maybe…maybe that was the sound the door made when it was completely shut—she thought it’d been closed all the way before, but it must have been cracked or something, damn these walls were thick, the door was pretty solid and with it completely closed, she couldn’t hear much of anything outside anymore, everything was quieter like the room was swallowed up in a barrier that kept noise in, and uh, out. So. Any knife-ears around wouldn’t be able to eavesdrop or whatever, she didn’t think.

              She…she really hoped not, oh man, she felt sick now, but…but she could really…she could really say anything?

              She wasn’t exactly sure what happened. Sort of felt like putting too much weight on a twig that snapped right friggin in half, dry and brittle and broken. Maybe not dry she- frick she just started  _crying_ like a stupid baby, babbling out anything and everything that came to her lips, just gross word vomit.

              That she hates herself. Hates her life, hates her Lady. She can’t eat because she’s fat, got big and Lady didn’t like it, Cook only makes what Lady orders her to, and she isn’t allowed to eat from anywhere else. They’re traveling, so she’s only supposed to when Lady’s with her, says she can. And she’s always trapped—cooped up in the house, she can’t leave, not without Lady or her permission, she maybe gets an hour a day if she’s good, and Lady doesn’t think she’s any good so she’s lucky if she get’s to leave the house for a walk by herself once, twice a week. That she really, really, really wants to go to school, but she  _can’t_ Lady won’t  _let her_ , won’t let her out from under her, she- she’s pretty sure even when she turns sixteen, she…she’ll still be stuck, Lady’ll find some way or another to keep her around, it wasn’t like she had anywhere else to go, and she’d tried running away before. Lady always sent people after her and it…it was always bad when she got back. She was just stuck, trapped, until Lady bit the big one. Definitely shut up then because sometimes…sometimes Sera thought about it, killing the bitch. But she was too scared to—part of her was scared of the day she got out from under Lady’s control, because what…what would she do? She didn’t know things, like how to cook or clean or take care of herself. Lady had people that did everything for her, that…that was part of it, of Lady’s control, making Sera incapable of being independent. She’d never even ruddy bathed or dressed herself, and that sounded real lux, but it meant she didn’t know how to tie her shoes or lace up a dress or whatever the frig. She didn’t know anything about money, things, living was ruddy expensive and she didn’t know the first thing about what she’d need if she went out on her own and- and-

              Ellie’d been quiet the whole time Sera talked, came to sit on the arm of Sera’s chair and um, she’d been running a hand through Sera’s hair to comfort her she guessed, that sort of turned into a hair braiding session somehow which uh…was nice. The contact did make her feel better, and her hair…she didn’t have a say in anything, especially anything to do with her appearance. Got regular trims for split ends and the like, but she had to keep her hair long, it was prettier that way, and it took focus off her ears. Ellie braiding it though, that wasn’t too bad, and it kind of got it off the back of her neck where it itched something fierce, so, sweet.

              Maggie was real quiet for a moment as she seemed to be thinking, and then she looked to Ellie. “Sweetheart.“

              Kid nodded, and she felt- oh, Ellie had a little ribbon on her she used to tie the end of Sera’s braid and then she offered up a clean hanky from one of her coat pockets, “Here. I’ll be right back, everything’s going to be okay Seda, I promise.”

              Promise, huh? “Whatever you say, Inky.”

              The girl nodded and Samson got up and went right after her as soon as she headed for the door. Oh man, oh man oh man oh man, did she really just- just say all of that? What- what was even the point? Oh frick, what if Ellie was going to go tell-

              She wasn’t. Sera wasn’t sure how she knew that, but she did. Inky wasn’t going to tattle to Lady.

              “Seda, sweetheart, you’re in town for a few more days, right?” Maggie asked while they waited.

              Sera nodded. “Uh…yeah,” today was Friday, so, wait, huh. “Why en’t Inky in school?”

              “Inky? Oh, poor thing got ink all over herself again?” the woman giggled, “Oh that girl—Inky suits. She’d usually be in school, but her papa brought her along to work today, she’s just getting over a cold and the flu’s going around her school something awful right now, he wanted to have her close, where we could keep an eye on her and get him if she needs. She gets ill easily. She’s pretty resilient but little things can snowball into bigger problems for her with her asthma.”

              Oh, oh frig. Sera wasn’t sure what ass-ma was, but she uh…didn’t like the idea of Ellie sick. She’d seemed real cheery today, but was she just getting over being sick? She’d really…been there for Sera today, and cripes, she- she hadn’t even eaten yet, not lunch anyway, that wasn’t any good. Food was energy and you needed energy to fight sickness, right? She didn’t like that um…that the girl put her first. That was dumb, she didn’t even know Sera…or uh, at least, she hadn’t, not really.

              “She’s feeling a lot better today, but we’re ‘worry warts’ she calls us,” Maggie breezed, waving a hand dismissively. “But she’s our baby girl, we um…I’m not entirely sure just how we’d get on if anything ever happened to her, so, we’re worry warts. Now, you—how long are you in town for?”

              Oh, right, “Sorry—we leave Monday.”

              “Hmm. Well, Seda, honey, you want to attend Markham University, yes? You’re absolutely certain?”

              Sera shook her head, this woman didn’t get it, “Lady won’t let-“

              “Lady’s opinion doesn’t matter to me. I want yours. What do you want?”

              “I…I want to study here.”

              “Alright then,” Maggie said. “That’s all I need to hear.”

              Ellie didn’t tattle to anyone really, at least it didn’t seem that way—at first Sera panicked when Ellie showed up with this big bloke, wearing light pillowy quilted armor that had Markham University’s sigil on the left breast. But he’d his helmet off, and was holding Ellie’s hand, and she said, “We’re back! Seda, this is my papa Cyril.”

              “Pleasure to meet you Seda—David speaks highly of you, Ellie-girl too, she says you’re friends? What can I do for y- on no, what’s that look? Oh hell.” The guy was looking to Maggie and she…yeah had this look on her face, like uncertainty and something determined. She met Cyril’s gaze, then looked to Sera, then to Ellie real hard before she looked up at Cyril like he re _ally_ needed to catch her drift.

              “A James situation. A James situation mixed with an Ellie situation,” was all the woman said and Sera wasn’t sure what the hell that meant, but,

              “…can I be the one to spring this on Thom? It’d be fun to be the one showing up ‘hi love, guess what?’ this time around. What do you need me to do?”

              “Just that—talk this over with my son." She looked to Sera,  "How are you feeling? I’m so sorry, I- I have some hard candies you can hide in your pockets, peppermints, it’ll just smell like you brushed your teeth—do be mindful to brush your teeth later—and um, there’s brownies in the common room, go ahead and help yourself to a few while we walk you back to my husband’s office. You should get back to your guardian, and I should introduce myself.”

              “You aren’t um-“

              “Confidentiality. Not a word will be said of what we’ve spoken of here—in point of fact, we haven’t even met yet, I’ll just be running into you on the way there,” Maggie shrugged, rising and she took a handful of peppermints out of a dish on her desk, handing them off to Sera and…okay, sure, maybe um…maybe it’d help. A little bit of sugar in her system, and Lady’d just think she brushed her teeth. She was cool with dental hygiene, and she wouldn’t check Sera’s coat pockets as long as she was careful and didn’t give her a reason to think she should.

              Ellie took a hold of Sera’s hand and kept close as they walked back, the girl only let go of her papa’s hand to take a brownie off a platter on the common room’s coffee table and hand one off to Sera’s free hand, so she had a little something to eat as they hoofed it back across campus. Eating and listening, cause…well frick, Sera…was a  _little_  glad her hearing was better than a normal persons. She listened careful, she had heard this kind of rattle, real low and quiet when they went to outside places, it happened again as they left the office building and headed back to the Science department. Coming from the girl’s breathing, her uh, lungs or whatever. But it cleared up after they were inside a bit, shit, was that ass-ma or whatever? It didn’t sound bad, but it didn’t sound super good either. “Hey um, make sure you eat good at lunch, okay? I’m sorry we didn’t make it,” Sera said. She should have just walked the girl to the dining hall to begin with, nibbled at something while she ate, shite. Instead she ended up with all this…this mess.

              “Me too,” Inky said, “I’m sorry we couldn’t get you a good meal-“

              “Lady’s got some kind of dinner tonight, I’ll be eating good in a few hours,” Sera assured her.

              “Good. Um…bread’s easy to hide, some fruits are too, if you can, try to sneak something you can eat later?” Ellie suggested, rattling off, “Um…you’re staying in a hotel? It’s kind of gross but people call on room service to bring them food and then usually leave dirty plates and trays out in the hall, if you can find a reason to go out on your own or um, sneak out, you can probably find good stuff left over before they get taken up in the morning.”

              Well frick, she didn’t realize that, she’d never stayed in a hotel before, Inky was a ruddy little survivalist or something, huh? “Thanks, Ink.” She uh…maybe she would sneak food, kind of nervous she’d not lose weight like Lady wanted though, she’d just…she’d figure it out, she didn’t need some little kid worrying after her.

              This…this was dumb. Stupid, they weren’t even going to see each other again.

              “Ahh, here she is,” Professor Farkus and Lady were already outside the office and Sera’s stomach turned when she saw the woman looking about for her, shite. “Lady Emmauld, allow me to introduce you to the love of my life—the brilliant, lovely Professor Margret Rainier,” Professor Farkus’s voice was warm, almost theatrical as he introduced Lady to his wife, oh, they was sweet—not Lady, the Professors, Maggie blushed something fierce as she took the hand he held out to her, and the sappy guy brought her hand to his lips to press a kiss to her knuckles. “Maggie-love, this is Lady Anya Emmauld, she’s miss Seda’s matron.”

              “A pleasure to meet you,” Maggie said, politely clasping hands with Lady, “Seda is an absolute treasure—you know she walked my sweet granddaughter all the way to the dining hall so she could get some lunch, it was so nice of her, it’s a shame she didn’t eat a single bite herself, you’re sure you’re not hungry, honey?” Maggie asked Sera oh- oh frig, sweet, that uh…that was real nice of her. Sera felt less anxious when Lady stopped looking so…she had this look, came off as polite cheer in public but it really meant Sera was in for it the moment they were alone. She relaxed though at assurances Sera hadn’t done anything she wasn’t supposed to do. “You’ve raised her very well,” the woman complimented, “I’d be absolutely honored if you and your charge could join us in our home for Sunday dinner—we always eat with the most important people we know. You attend Chantry, I trust? Do you have a place of worship in mind for while you’re in Markham? You’d be more than welcome at our Chantry.”

              Damn, she read Lady like an open book, but maybe Sera’s blabbing had helped—‘important people’ was right up Lady’s alley. “…of course, we’d love to. Chantry and dinner sound wonderful, Professor. This is our information, do send word to our hotel on the details,” Lady said, handing Maggie a card with their hotel name, room number on it. “Seda,” she said, gross way she does, “come. We’ve lingered long enough, we’ve an appointment.”

              “Yes, Lady Emmauld,” Sera agreed, kind of killed her a bit, the way Inky’s hand squeezed hers.

              “Thanks so much for walking with me! I can’t wait to see you again, Sunday, okay?” Ellie offered up optimistically. Huh, yeah, she guessed so. She was going to see her again, so…cool. Ellie hugged her around the waist, it was sweet, “That’s just two more sleeps!”

              “Have a good weekend,” Sera offered, patting the girl on the back.

              “You too!” Ellie replied. Sera took Lady’s arm, way she was supposed to, to walk her everywhere, didn’t like it nearly as much as holding hands with Inky to go everywhere without getting separated. Ugh, it was…when she held the door open for Lady, she got a look back at Ellie, her family, the kid was waving over head at her, and she nodded to her, sweet thing.

              “Did you see how absolutely a sight their little mongrel child is? I mean my word, I hope no one saw you walking about with her. She looks almost nothing like that man, Cyril? Professor Farkus says he’s her father.”

              “He just adopted her, actually, after marrying her father.”

              “She’s- Maker! So not only is she some bastard child, her father married another m-“ Lady rolled her eyes, exasperated. “Ugh. Whoever she thinks to invite to Sunday dinner had better be worth it, that’s all I have to say. Wash your hands before we leave for tonight. And do something about your hair, honestly it’s a mess, what did you do?”

              …E-Ellie’d braided it, and it looked nice, Sera was pretty sure. Could verify it herself when she got back to the hotel room—she promised Lady she’d fix it and dashed into the bathroom, just about the only place she could get a minute to herself this whole trip. She leaned against the countertop and took a deep breath, washed her face a bit just…it helped. Okay. She was safe. Lady didn’t know she ate and Maker did she feel better with something on her stomach. She had pocketfuls of candy and pointers from Ellie and…

              What? What was going to happen? They’d go to Chantry together? Have dinner? And what? Maybe…maybe she and Ellie could keep in touch or something? She wasn’t sure.

              She’d done a nice job on Sera’s hair. Lady was just a bitch.

              Tears stung Sera’s eyes as she stared at herself in the mirror.

              Lady wanted her to fix it, huh? 

 

* * *

 

              “Seda! Seda, hi! Como estas, chica? Oh my gosh, your hair is sooooo pretty!” Inky was real cute, in a clean, evergreen dress, standing on the seat of her pew and waving overhead enthusiastically.

              Sera blushed, cripes. Even more when Maggie turned at Ellie’s excitement, saw Sera and Lady approaching their pew Sunday morning. The woman reached out to- frick frick frick, okay, hold still, she had to stop herself from jerking away. Maggie didn’t mean it mean or nothin’, she uh, she brushed Sera’s hair back, tucked it behind her ear, it was bad enough she was blushing, cheeks, tips of her ears reddening. She wasn’t real big on her uh, big frickin ears. “You look beautiful, sweetheart.”

              “Oh you are far too kind!” Lady was quick to assure. “We had a little  _mishap_  with the scissors.” Sera lost her fucking mind and chopped it all off, “Seda’s been raised well but there’s only so much nurture can do—it’s in her nature to get a little wild sometimes, but I knew the risks when I took her in,” Lady lamented. “Thankfully there was this wonderful little salon that was just so accepting—taking my Seda as a client, and on such short notice,” Saturday morning. Lady had to sit through an entire dinner with Sera’s hair all uneven, it. was. great. Hell later, but worth it, sending Lady in such a tizzy. “It cost a pretty penny just to even out her hair, but anything for my girl.” Friggin mother of the year, ladies and gents.

              “Well, it’s very fitting, a happy accident I think,” Professor Farkus offered to Sera kindly.

              “Lady Emmauld, this is my Thom,” Maggie introduced them, resting a hand on the large man at her side’s shoulder, oh he was definitely her kid, friggin’ hair, eyes, whole deal. “Thom this is Lady Emmauld and her charge, Seda,”

              He nodded polite, taking Lady’s hand for a moment, “Pleasure,” before he smiled real warm and gently took Sera’s hand to shake, giving it a little squeeze like he was reassuring her, “Glad to meet you, Seda. Ellie-girl’s been talking about you nonstop all weekend—all good things. Would you mind at all, sitting with her? She saved you a seat.” Inky was still standing in her seat, nodding eagerly and motioning for Sera to join her.

              “We saved you the end seat, Lady Emmauld,” Maggie said, and Sera looked to Lady for a moment, they’d uh…be sitting on opposite ends of the group, she usually liked to keep a hand on Sera when they were out, but it would kind of come off weird if she demanded they all scoot down, and it just made sense, right? Younger people sitting together, adults sitting in their own group beside them?

              “Of course,” Lady said pleasantly, her hand on Sera’s elbow gripping harsh in warning. “Have a pleasant time with your little friend.”

              Planned on it. Ink was sweet and Sera…shite she was sad she wouldn’t see her again. The girl giggled as Sera shuffled past the adults to get to her, and she hugged Sera tight around the neck since she was tall enough while standing on her pew, “Hola Seda! I missed you! Have you had a good weekend? Your hair really is so pretty!”

              “Thanks. I missed you too, Ink,” Sera said, patting her on the back, “Weekends been good. Yours?” her breathing sounded clear, Sera was pretty sure that was a good sign. Lady’d been so pissed about Sera’s hair she left her to her own devices in the hair salon to go blow off some steam shopping or something after giving the woman strict instruction on what she wanted done to Sera’s hair. They had little newsletters and magazines—Sera felt a little dumb asking, but she wondered if they had an encyclopedia or anything laying around, the salon owner had an apartment upstairs and since Lady’d thrown her weight around, it sort of left the impression Sera was someone important. So, up they went to look around, came back down with a few they found on their bookshelves. She flipped through them a little awkwardly while the lady messed with her hair, and in the second one she found what she was friggin looking for—asthma, not assma which uh, made way more sense. She didn’t have a clue what asthma was though, but glancing down through the A section, there’d been a diagram of the Human upper respiratory system so she figured she was close and then boom. Found it, read about it, did  _not_ like it—ruddy scary it sounded.

              “It was really nice—Papi took the day off yesterday to stay home and play with me and Maggie! And I can’t wait for you to come over later for dinner tonight! It’s gonna be so much fun!” Ellie promised, pulling back and Sera held her hands to support her as she sat down proper on the seat, she’d been nervous the girl would fall. “You can sit next to me! Ciel, move your stinky feet!”

              Oh, there was this boy around Ellie’s age sitting facing them with his legs in the seat beside Ellie’s saving it she guessed, that was uh, nice. He was kind of glaring at her though, uh…didn’t like knife-ears, huh? Or maybe…well he was a boy and he didn’t…you couldn’t always judge a book by its cover but he didn’t have any kind of vibe to her that said he was into blokes but either he really had something against Sera for the shape of her dumb ears, or he was packing a major crush for the sweet little Antivan Sera was getting ready to sit down next to. First time ever she had money on it being the latter—Inky was cute, and kind, if she wasn’t only tiny, came Sera-sized, she’d probably have a crush on her too.

              Yup. Guy was definitely jealous, he let out an annoyed little huff when Ellie took Sera’s hand just before she sat, considering what little experience she had with the girl, she was pretty sure if she wasn’t here, this Ciel bloke would be getting his hand held, though he did cheer up a bit when Ellie said, “Seda, this is my best friend Ciel! Ciel, this is my new friend Seda!”

              “Bonjour, a pleasure to meet you miss,” Ciel offered politely. Sera’d keep an eye on him, if Ellie considered him her best friend, that probably meant he was okay, Sera wouldn’t take an interest in him no matter his age, but he was a symmetrical kid, cute, he’d probably be handsome when he got hit with the puberty stick. If Ink rolled that way, it might be a good deal.

              “You too,” Sera replied, bracing herself a bit, Ink was holding her hand and waiting for her to sit, so. Time to do that, she took a deep breath, and did a few fibs. One plus one is two, plus one is three, plus two is-  _ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch there, sitting,_ five.

              “Seda?” Ellie worried, frick, she hadn’t flinched or anything but she’d gone down stiff, probably looked like an idiot who didn’t know how to put her ass in a seat, “Are you okay?”

              “Just peachy, Ink.”

              Ellie’s brow furrowed at that, but she didn’t say anything else, just rubbed circles on the back of Sera’s hand with her thumb, legs swinging as she waited for the service to start. Lady’d throw a fit if Sera sat like that, anything other than legs together, one foot tucked behind the other’s ankle…if it wouldn’t kill her back she’d probably indulge in joining her, looked fun.

              Though the leg swinging came to an abrupt halt when an usher passed, handing Lady a stack of programs to pass down the row, Ellie took one in hand and looked up to Sera, “Me and you can share, right Seda? You can share Chants with me too, I have my own!” she said, oh, yeah, she did—she’d put it in the little slot hanging off the back of the pew in front of them, it was alongside the Chantry’s hymnals and one of their copies of the Chant, Ellie picked hers up, it was cute, bound in light purply leather, had a little loop she could stick a pencil in for safe keeping. Sera passed the programs on to Ciel and looked over the one now resting on top of Ellie’s Chant that she had sitting in her lap, looked like the usual set up. Some Mother named Wendy was gonna welcome them all, then there’d be a few songs, Sera went ahead and grabbed an hymnal so she could be ready to turn to the page numbers listed and hold the book for Ink when the time came. Then the service- oh. Ellie wasn’t all that interested in the programs contents, she flipped it over to the empty back side and started doodlin’- oh. Not doodling, writing.

               _ ~~Are you hurt?~~  _She scratched that out,  _You’re hurt, what happened?_

              Ink put her pencil down and turned it in hand to point it’s blunt end at Sera, so she took it, casting a quick eye down the pew to make sure Lady wasn’t watching but the woman was looking straight ahead…well it was more like she was looking around to see if she spotted anyone she recognized, fanning herself with her own program. Her eyes were off Sera, so she wrote back,  _Lady wasn’t too excited about my haircut. I’m okay, been worse._

              There was something like…Sera could almost feel something kind of snap in Ellie, that she was  _pissed_ , eyes wide as she looked down at the program.

              “Oh my word!” Lady screeched, and Sera looked up, shite, it smelled like something was burning- oh frig, Sera had to slap a hand over her own mouth to keep from laughing. Her program was on friggin  _fire!_  Clumsy old bitch, there was candelabras lining the inner aisle between pews, she must have caught it on the flames of the one just behind her head. Lady dropped her program into the aisle and a bloke seated across from her rose up in his seat and stomped the flames out and Lady was  _real_ red, embarrassed. Sweet, served her right.

              Oh, but Ink looked kind of spooked, she’d gone pale and gulped looked…looked ruddy  _terrified_ actually, shite, Sera leaned down to whisper in her ear, “It’s okay Ink, it was just a little accident, it’s out now. Lady’s a clutz.”

              Ellie nodded before scribbling on her program again,  _Come to the bathroom with me?_ Sera nodded, and Ellie folded up the program before slipping it into her dress pocket, then she turned to the man seated next to her, Thom, making a show of bouncing in her seat a little, “Papi, lo siento, but I have to go potty  _really_  bad, can Seda take me please?”

              Thom sighed, “I told you to go before we left home baby girl,” he offered…not reprimanding, just sounding bemused, “Yeah, it’s fine as long as you take Seda with you, go on.”

              “We’ll be right back,” Sera said, Inky’s hand in hers as the girl led her oh, down the pew instead of shuffling past her family and Lady—they went past Ciel and the woman he was seated next to, his mum she guessed, and a few older people to the walk way along the wall, leaving the service area and heading…yeah, for the bathroom, maybe Ink really did have to pee.

              If she did, she sure had a hell of a way of showing it—they went right past the door marked as the women’s restroom, and down to this place where a Chantry Brother was seated before this real skinny doorway, letting go of Sera’s hand for some  reason, “Hola Brother Timon! I’m really sorry to bother you, but…”

              “Oh honey, you’ve got to be more careful,” the man caught on to what she was implying, already on his feet as he got up and unlocked the door behind him oh, it was like a supply cabinet or something, “Cuts or bruise?”

              “Let’s say both,” Ellie chirped.

              “Maker girl, you know your fathers should really just wrap you up in cotton wool, send you around armored up or something. Do you need any help?” he wondered as he pulled a roll of bandaging and a jar out of the cabinet and handed them Ellie’s outstretched hands.

              “Gracias, but no, I’ve got it,” Ellie promised, “I’ll bring this right back,” before she turned about to head for the bathroom.

              She did end up having to pee, apparently she’d chugged a bunch of juice before they left for Chantry, “I feel badly, lying?” she explained from the stall, “But sabes que—I’ve been holding it for forever!” friggin, what a little nut! The kid sighed after she flushed and came out, washing her hands good in the sink, “We’re still the only ones in here?” she double checked with Sera and when the Elf girl nodded, Ellie turned off the tap and flapped her hands to dry them as she skipped over to the bathroom door and locked it, “We’ll only be a minute but still,” she shrugged, turning to face Sera. “Where are you hurt?”

              “Ink I’m fi-“

              “Will Lady Emmauld hurt you again if she finds out you aren’t hurt anymore?” Ellie worried, frick, Sera quickly shook her head ‘no’. She’d have no reason to suspect Sera wasn’t hurt, it wasn’t like she checked up on her any, she’d only get pissed if she found out Sera’d blabbed. “I understand being embarrassed but it’s um, the back of you that’s hurt, right? You can’t really reach by yourself—I’ll be careful, I’m really good at patching up ouches, I help my papi all the time—he’s a guardsman, I helped papa give him stitches once, it was kind of scary.”

              “Ouch,” Sera sympathized, “no uh, no stitches needed here. Um…okay Ink, you wanna help, that’s fine.”

              Ellie climbed up onto the countertop to sit, and Sera turned her back to her, Ellie undoing the buttons on the back of Sera’s dress. Oh frig, there was a salty smell in the air now, quickly followed by the scent of Elf Root, but the salt, that usually meant tears, she didn’t want Ellie to c _ry_. But the kid didn’t make any sound or anything, just carefully rubbed ointment into her back, frick, that felt so much better. “She hit you with her cane? Just because you cut your hair?”

              Didn’t hurt to shrug anymore so she did, “She’s uh, real stuck on how I’m supposed to look.”

              “Your hair’s cute shorter! I think it looks great,” Ellie defended, “She’s! She’s just mean!” Yeah, kind of why Sera chopped her hair to begin with really. “Y-you- Seda this- she makes you not eat?”

              Sera shrugged. “I got taller and my weight went up, number on the Healer’s scale is all that matters to her, as far as she’s concerned I’m big as a house.”

              “I can see the ridges of your spine, not to mention your ribcage and those are definitely supposed to have a little muscle or fat on them, gosh you look like m- um. You just, you’re starving and that’s not good or healthy or right,” Ellie fretted as she finished buttoning up Sera’s dress, “You need to gain weight, Sera, not lose it.”

              Wait. “Sera?” she questioned turning to look at the girl.

              Ink’s eyes went a little wide. “Sorry, misspoke, brain mixup!” she was quick to explain, heart thumping a bit loud in her chest and then, “That’s um- sorry, Seda. This isn’t good and my abuelos and padres want to help. My Maggie’s a legal genius and she’s already figured something out for you—all you need to do is make it to dinner tonight. You have luggage and stuff, right?”

              “Lady has suitcases for us."

              Ellie nodded, “I have a bag with me, it’s empty. I’m going to leave it in the pew when we leave Chantry, you pick it up and say you’ll return it to me tonight, and if you get the chance, if its safe, put all your things in it, anything you want to take with you—clothes, personal items, hotel toiletries. It’ll be obvious that it’s full, sorry, I couldn’t find anything else on short notice—but pack it up and leave it in your hotel room, if she wonders about it after just say you forgot it and do not go back for it. Papi has guard friends the hotel staff will let into your room to get your things, putting them in my bag just lets them know for sure they’re taking what’s yours.”

              … “What…what do you mean?”

              “You’re not going back home with that- that- that puta!” she looked up at the ceiling, “I’m sorry I said a bad word in Chantry and in life! But she’s being a bad word in Chantry and life so there!” before looking back to Sera. “This might sound absolutely bat crap crazy, but we want to help you, and we’re going to, Seda. You just have to trust us, just a little bit. Maggie and Abuelo will explain when you come to dinner tonight.”

              “Lady isn’t going to let me not go back with her and I- I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

              “Yeah you do, and yeah, she is. She’s not going to have much say in the matter—I promise, Seda. And the thing about me? I always keep my promises. Always. After today, you will never, never ever ever have to leave with Lady Emmauld ever again.”

              “Why would- Ink, that’s sweet but your family can’t possibly want to help out a total stranger.”

              “That’s kind of our thing. Seda…” Ellie sighed, “you promise to keep this to yourself?” she asked, extending a pinky finger to Sera. She linked pinkies with the younger girl who took a deep breath and said, “I was a total stranger. I didn’t meet Thom until I was eight.”

              “He didn’t know he had a kid?”

              “He doesn’t have a kid—not biologically anyway. I’m from Antiva, like  _from_  from, I lived there, in an orphanage, until I was five. Ended up out on my own, traveling around the Free Marches, and Thom found me on his way to Markham. He didn’t know me, he barely knew my name and he took me in and when he um…when he came to understand my situation, that I didn’t have anywhere else I could go, no place safe for me to stay, he made me a safe place with him, and his mami, and Cyril. It wasn’t safe to make contact with the orphanage I come from, so…as far as anyone is concerned both personally and legally, I’m papi’s, we got his name on what’s now considered my official birth certificate and everything. Maggie made that happen for me, agreed to do it the day we met, and she’s gonna make that happen for you too—not the birth certificate thing, just, she has a solution for you is what I mean.”

              Sera’s eyes felt itchy, throat tight. “…you’re…you’re actually serious.”

              “I’m always serious about helping my friends.”

              This was stupid, the stupidest thing she’s ever agreed to, and she’s pretty sure it’ll get her killed when Lady manages to intervene but…well frick, she’ll either actually get out, or get dead, and that’s basically good enough for her. “Okay Inky. We got a deal.”

              Ellie nodded and then hopped down off the counter, “If you need to do anything, I’ll be right outside waiting,” she promised before slipping out, leaving the Elf Root ointment open on the countertop next to the roll of bandages. Oh. Yeah, cool…Lady swung with a lot of range, cracked Sera hard upside the head at one point but it wasn’t too bad, she’d been able to put ice on it. Her bottom, back of her legs were another story, so she made quick work of applying ointment and washing her hands, capping the jar before taking it and the bandaging up and going out to join Ellie.

              They got their things returned to Brother Timon, and then slipped back into service, Lady eyeballing them critically as they returned to their seats.

              Sera just about lost her shit when Ellie leaned forward to whisper loudly to Lady, the adults in general, “Sorry! But I had to poop, like big time!”

              “My goodness, your fathers should watch what they feed you,” Lady commented quietly, and Sera saw Cyril’s fist clench just a second before Thom laid his hand over that fist, patting it a bit, making sure his husband didn’t just straight up throw hands with an old lady in the middle of Chantry.

              They…they really wanted to help her, huh?

              Lady was giving Sera the silent treatment all the way back to the hotel, which sorted, she only spoke to inform her she was taking a nap before they had to make the trip all the way down town again, for dinner.

              “I trust you’ll behave yourself,” she left Sera with, before slipping into the bedroom of their suit.

              Not a chance.

              Sera’d done as Ellie asked—the girl ‘forgot’ her bag on the pew at Chantry and Sera took it up, Lady rolled her eyes when she said she’d return it to the girl, so she didn’t figure it’d matter much to the old bitch when Sera ‘forgot it’ too. She filled it up with things, dresses, nightgowns and underthings, bandaging for monthlies she’d packed  _just_ in case mother nature decided to strike as they traveled, though she hadn’t had that in like, months now. Lady’d…she’d freaked out on her, beat the crap out of her when she realized Sera didn’t need more bandaging because she hadn’t used any in a while, accused her of being a slut, that she knew she shouldn’t have trusted her to go on walks by herself, just how many men was she opening her legs for? Zero, but it’s not like Lady believed her until a Healer confirmed Sera wasn’t pregnant. She wasn’t sure why her monthly just up and vanished, but whatever.

              She left the bag on the dining table in the kitchenette, Lady was usually all business about getting out the door, so she wasn’t likely to look there, and it was in plain view from the doorway so, it’d be easy for whatever ‘friends’ was coming to take her things…

              If this didn’t work, some randos would have her underthings. But she’d probably be dead, so, eh. Someone should have them, she guessed.

              She got all the way from plus one is two, to plus 196418 is 317811 by the time their carriage rolled up to this little house downtown, it was the address Maggie’d sent them. The house was cute, or uh,

              “Quaint,” Lady termed it. Meant she thought it was a shithole.

              “Professor Rainier said she invited important people to Sunday dinner,” Sera offered quietly, just…making sure the woman didn’t up and turn around right as they were just within reach of the place.

              ‘The most important people’ Maggie’d said, and what that meant was  _her_ important people. Her husband, her sons, and her granddaughter. Oh Lady looked flustered for a second before she went into politeness mode—she wasn’t about to make a scene at a Professor’s house.

              “Seda, sweetheart, why don’t you go play with Ellie for a while, dinner’s almost ready—she’s just in her room,” Maggie said, gesturing to a door on the same wall the fireplace was on, “Lady Emmauld would you care for anything to drink?”

              “Oh anything you have I’m sure is adequate, I’m partial to red wines,” Lady breezed.

              “Oh our finest red, coming right up,” Maggie…frick, Sera really did like her. She had this big, shit eating grin as she pulled out a wine glass from the cabinet, reached in the cold chest, and then set the glass on the counter top for Lady to see, alongside a big carton clearly labeled as grape juice, looked like it was branded for little kids even, and then she poured a nice half a glass for the Lady. “We’re a dry house, here.”

              “Oh how…refreshing,” Lady supposed. That meant she thought they were out of their minds.

              Sera slipped into the room Maggie’d pointed out to her, rapping her knuckles against the door as she pushed it open. Huh, it wasn’t bad, a nice little bedroom, big window, it was warm being on the same wall as the fireplace. Ellie was on her bed, Samson napping at the foot of it. Her hair was out of the ribbon that held it back earlier, looked poofier like she’d slept for a bit. “Seda! Hi!”

              “Hey Ink,” Sera greeted, taking a seat on the edge of the bed, “You get a good nap in?” wait, frick. There was that low rattle again, bit louder now, when Ellie breathed, shite. “You feelin’ okay?”

              “Si,” she said, seeming a bit shy. “I had a cold last week, I’m doing better but I’m still a little wiped, we had a lot of errands to run after Chantry.” She brightened then, she had this little stuffed bear in her arms and she offered him to Sera, “This is Russel! And that’s Mister Pinkie, do you wanna play with us?” she asked, nodding to this plushie nug on the end of the bed. That was…that was sweet. Sera’d never really had toys coming up, Lady thought it was stupid to play pretend, so it was kind of sweet Inky was still into it. Sera felt a little clumsy, out of sorts, she’d never played like this before but uh…it was kind of fun? Making silly voices and putting words into the stuffed animals mouths, having a little play conversation, though Sera just about jumped out of her skin when the door started opening again, someone rapping against it but oh…cool, cool, it was just Maggie. She closed the door behind her,

              “Hi sweethearts, Lady Emmauld is busy talking with Ellie’s fathers and David so, we have a minute,” she said, coming to sit alongside Sera, resting a hand on her shoulder. “You want to go to Markham University? You’re absolutely certain?”

              “More than anything.”

              “Well then, that’s excellent—that makes this so much easier. Honey, Lady Emmauld told you you needed her permission to go to Markham, and that’s a little bit true, but not entirely. You needed her permission to apply—her signature on your application, she only has a say in your acceptance because um…I take it you forged her signature? While she hasn’t refuted its authenticity, she’s using the authority it gives her to decline and revoke your admission. However, that works in our favor. David and I met with members of the school board and called a meeting of faculty in our departments—you can’t apply without your guardians permission, but that doesn’t stop us from recruiting you so to speak. After hearing David talk about your academic accomplishments, and presenting your research to the board, they’ve decided to still extend to you a full ride to Markham University—a fresh offer, the school extending itself to you, instead of the opposite, you’ll never pay for a single class you take so long as you keep your grades up. You’re absolutely free to accept that, and if you do, acceptance into a school of higher learning is grounds for emancipation*. I have everything in order—Lady Emmauld will have no legal right to take you with her, you’re free to go where you choose to get your life in order, prove you can live without her support, and the court will approve your emancipation.” Sera opened her mouth to friggin bring up the point she didn’t have any clue how to start, “You only have to prove you can live without Lady Emmauld’s support. Your scholarship will only cover tuition, so, you’re more than welcome to stay here, two of David’s TA’s are graduating this semester so there’ll be an opening in his office and he’s one hundred percent  down with nepotism, you’ll work in his office during the week—you’ll pay rent of course. Let’s say thirty-one coppers a month?” at Sera’s bewildered look at- at friggin bloody cheap rent, “What? This is a quaint little home downtown. You’ll be sharing common space and a bathroom with five other people, and a room with an eleven-year-old. This is hardly the Remington.”

              No it…it wasn’t. it was about a thousand times better as far as Sera was concerned. “You’re…you’re serious. This will work?”

              “Absolutely. Thom’s got a few guardsmen picking up your things as we speak, when we’re through with dinner Lady Emmauld will be informed of your decision and politely asked to leave—of course if she kicks up a fuss she’ll be escorted back to her hotel and Thom has a patrol ordered to keep an eye on her, make certain she leaves Markham as planned tomorrow morning. You, will be perfectly safe, she will not hurt you again, not so long as you live under my roof, is that understood?”

              …no, she was pretty sure her brain was friggin’ broke. She…she couldn’t wrap her head around it, just- this…was this seriously happening?

              “What do I have to do?”

              “One minute,” Maggie held up an index finger, going to the door and opening it a crack to call out, “David, would you be a dear and come here please?”

              “Ahh, my lady love, she calls for me,” the man excused himself, and when he came in the room he smiled, “What can I do for you lovely ladies?”

              “Seda’s ready,” Maggie said once the door was closed again, “would you care to do the honors? I’ll bear witness, of course.”

              Witness? Sera almost got freaked out, but uh, the guy just looked to her and said, “Seda Emmauld, would you do Markham University the honor of attending as a member of their General Chemistry program?” he leaned forward a bit to stage whisper, “You can specialize later once you’ve got a feel for which route you want to pursue.”

              “Yes, I do,” Sera said, felt like she was ruddy getting married or something.

              “Well then, as you’ve accepted, in front of another faculty member, your acceptance is finalized, you’re officially a future student of Markham University. I…had a feeling you’d say yes, so, I’ve already sent in the appropriate paperwork via courier. You’ll start working at the University itself as a TA in a few weeks’ time. Your official documentation of acceptance will be delivered here shortly and Maggie will get that sent to the proper authorities to start the emancipation process. Once it’s postmarked*, it’s official, so, you’re comfortable staying here tonight?” Didn't have anywhere else to go and she was...she was pretty sure she was safe here. Loads safer than she would be with Lady, that was for sure, so Sera nodded, “then we’re all set. Let’s go have dinner with a she-devil to stall until everything’s signed and sealed and we can send her on her merry way.”

              Dinner was good. Really, really good—Maggie made salad to start with, crisp romaine lettuce and carrots, cooked chilled peas, chunks of broccoli that Inky wrinkled her nose at but ate every bite of once they were covered in this sweet, spicy variation of Orlesian salad dressing, and there were these fresh buttery rolls they’d picked up from the baker's that afternoon. Professor Farkus cooked, he’d spent a year abroad in Tevinter when he was in school, and picked up a talent for authentic Tevene cooking, thick, delicious pasta stuffed with mushrooms and sausage, smothered in creamy, garlicy sauce. Maker, Sera…nervous, she was nervous as hell sitting on the edge of relief and anxiety—there were a lot of promises still up in the air. This was either her last meal, or the first of many great ones, however it turned out, she was gonna enjoy it—Lady looked like she might pop a blood vessel, that big vein up the middle of her forehead came popping out when Thom asked if Sera’d like seconds and she readily accepted another heaping pile of pasta, went halfsies on a third roll with Ellie. It was kind of slow going, eating—Ellie was seated on her right, holding her hand tight under the table so Sera had to eat with her left, but that kind of sorted—the longer they took to eat, the more time they took up. Samson…wasn’t such a bad guy, he was ruddy big but Sera guessed he was a gentle giant, he was careful around Inky, always following her around, he’d followed them out to the dining room and laid down between Sera and Ellie’s chairs, tail thwacking between the chair’s legs as it wagged slowly side to side. The adults carried on most of the conversation, sort of teaming up to keep Lady yammering away. And when Lady did finally sound like she was about to excuse them for the evening, Maggie stood up and insisted they stay for dessert, a cup of coffee if either of them would care for some—she’d be absolutely _insulted_ if they turned down at least trying a slice of the cake she and Ellie made.

              “Ellie helped me mix everything together, and she made the icing all by herself,” Maggie said, booping the girl on the nose before leaving the table to go uncover the cake and slice it up for serving. That was really sweet…they…part of what scared Sera was that yeah, these people seemed nice, but they were just as much strangers to her as she was to them. If this worked…Maker, her life was about to be so much different. Ellie…she as surrounded by people that looked out for her, took care of her, but didn’t…didn’t strip away her independence—she knew how to survive, how to treat injury, seemed like she could dress herself, they even let her help with the cooking, let her develop skills she’d need if she had to do it all by herself someday. Would they treat her the way they’ve treated Ellie? It already seemed that way— _he barely knew my name and took me_ in she’d said about Thom. Maggie looked at her situation, heard her, and just…helped. Wasn’t asking Sera for anything in return, at least not yet.

              Cake was amazing, real dense and moist and _sweet_ , chocolaty as all get-out, and Professor Farkus, he took a big swab of icing up on his index finger, popped it in his mouth, “Mmm—it's just as sweet as you, mija! You and your abuelita did an excellent job!”

              They really had. They didn’t lie about things like that because of stupid pride—rolls, those were delicious and if she’d been in Lady’s house, that bitch would claim she just pulled them right out of the oven her own creaky self. But Maggie, she didn’t have any shame about it, she readily gave credit to a bakery. This cake, she’d made it, taught Ellie how, let her participate.

              Sera…had lots of wants now.

              She wanted to go to university.

              She wanted to stay here with these people.

              She wanted to stay with Inky, be her friend.

              There was a knock at the door and Sera’s heart thumped in her chest, she squeezed Ink’s hand tight. Thom smiled to her from across the table, warm, reassuring before he rose up, wiping his mouth off with a napkin he dropped by his plate and said,

              “I’ll just go see who that is.”

              Maggie smiled and hopped up from her own chair, “Mija, donde esta mi lapicero?” she asked as she headed for the kitchen.

              “Cajon de arriba,” Ellie offered back and Sera heard a drawer being pulled open, the woman pulled out this huge ink pen, the kind ink came out of instead of having to be dipped. And then there was this envelope that’d been sitting on the counter top all night, nothing on it but she took it now and started writing on the back while Thom got the door, and then she pulled a sheet of stamps out of the drawer, applied one to the envelope before she went to join Thom just as he was saying,

              “Professor, I believe this is for you-“ he meant David but,

              “I can take that,” Maggie said, taking whatever Thom’d just been handed in hand and she looked it over, “Excellent, I’ll just put this here,” she said, folding up the sheet of parchment and adding it to…well the envelope looked pretty stuffed, especially with one more piece of paper inside and then she licked the edge before closing it up to seal it and handed it right back to the curior at the door along with a silver coin, “do get this to the office of Mellor and Lenox tonight—hurry dear, they aren’t usually open on Sundays, but they’ll be waiting for this,” she said before leaning back into the house to look to Sera, “friends of mine, they’ll put it in for processing right away so we can get this entire thing dealt with as soon as possible. Big part is done though, so, Thom, if you’d invite your friends in? I feel badly they can’t stay for cake but they’re always welcome to come back once they’re done.”

              “Ahh yes, guardsman Raymond, Jefferson, let me introduce you to Lady Anya Emmauld,” Thom said as he and Maggie let in two guards, full uniform, one of them holding the floral bag Ellie’d given her in hand and he offered it over to Maggie as Thom said, “she’s a real piece of work.”

              _“Excuse_ me?” Lady asked.

              “I hope you don’t mind, but my co-workers here are going to escort you back to your hotel. A few more will be there come morning to see you safely out of the city. Just you, mind. Seda will be staying with us.”

              “I beg your pardon?”

              “Oh honey, you didn’t realize?” Maggie asked, friggin’ she was a bitch too, but the best sort Sera thought, “Oh my goodness, silly me! See I just sent off Seda’s proof of admission to Markham University for the Fall semester, to my friends at the law office of Mellor and Lenox—you might want to remember that, they’ll be in contact with you shortly to let you know you’re parental rights have been officially terminated. As of two minutes ago, Seda has begun the emancipation process, she’ll be given liberty to prove that she can live outside of your support. Your support. She’ll have plenty here, don’t you fret. Now, if you please,” Maggie said, stepping back toward the door to open it, “let these fine gentlemen walk you back to your hotel. Of course, if you insist upon staying, you’ll be spending the night in a cell—for trespassing. Your choice where you spend your last night in Markham. You’re very last, I hope Seda doesn’t mind but I’ve seen to it a protection order will be in place shortly—you’re not to set foot in Markham or within a hundred feet of Seda, ever again.”

              “This- this is absurd. You don’t have the right- Seda, get up, come. We’re leaving.”

              She gripped Ellie’s hand, before looking up to meet Lady’s gaze. “I’m good here. Thanks.”

              _“Seda,”_ Lady hissed, but then she sighed. “Oh _honey_ , I’m sorry I got cross with you before, but you have to understand, you needed correction. If you come with me now, I promise, I won’t be mad. I understand this isn't you're fault, you’re confused, these people are twisted and they’ve fed you a crock of lies. You’re- you’re mine. Emancipation, have you even heard of such a thing before? No, this is just some sort of sick, twisted game they’re playing, they don’t want you, Seda, they’re toying with you. Come with me, right now, this instant.”

              “Not happening.”

              “You insolent little-“ Lady blanched, she’d been taking a step forward, but she backed it on up real fast, shrieked when Samson rose up from where he’d been laying and stood his ground before Sera, baring his teeth at Lady and growling for good measure. Yup, she’d been wrong—good boy, he was the best boy. Of all boys, Sera’s favorite.

              “Ma’am,” one of the guardsmen said firmly.

              “Fine. I’ll leave. Just you see what happens when I do—don’t you dare come crawling back to me you pathetic waste—I’ve done everything for you, given you everything you have—you’ll be nothing with out me you filthy blooded knife-ear-“ Oh frick, Thom had to play hold back guy for a second time that day, this time gently gripping his mother’s wrist when she moved like she was about to give Lady a slap, stepping forward to offer quietly, kind of sing-songy, the reminder that,

              “You have a record.” Wait, seriously? Well, Maggie did seem…refined, polished, but yeah she had this underlying rough-and-tumble air to her, kind of like Mack—she was always a half-second away from whipping out a switchblade and starting a fight. Huh…she wasn’t sure what she’d do about that, should she uh…write her?

              Lady spat on the floor before taking up her cane and coat, storming from the house with guards at her back as Ellie stood straight up on her chair and shouted after her,

              “Spitting is rude! It was _not_ great meeting you!”

              “You tell her Ellie-girl,” Cyril offered, amused.

              So…so…

              “So…she’s gone? I- I don’t ever have to go with her a-again?” Sera checked.

              Oof! Inky pulled her into a great big hug, tucking Sera’s head under her chin, “Nope! Never ever ever ever ever!”

              “Are you full, sweetheart?” Cyril asked. Ink didn’t respond to him huh, “Seda, honey?” oh pish, he was talking to her. “You want more cake, there’s a little bit of leftovers if you want more pasta.”

              Oh. “Um…thanks but I’m stuffed,” seriously, she was pretty sure she ate more tonight than she had in forever. She…what was she supposed to do now?

              “Glad to hear it—you get hungry later tonight, we can keep leftovers in the cold chest—David’s pasta is even better cold,” he shared conspiratorially.

              “Here sweetheart, your things,” Thom said, coming over and laying the bag at her feet, “Don’t know what all you have, but you need anything else you let us know and we’ll take you shopping—mother and Ellie-girl’ll probably have a little spree sometime here soon with summer coming up.”

              Ellie got excited about that, “Oh yeah! We get new clothes for summertime and gather up all the things we can’t or don’t wear anymore and wash them, and take them to Maggie’s shelter!”

              “Shelter?” Sera asked.

              Maggie smiled as she resumed her seat alongside Professor Farkus, the man draping an arm over her shoulders as she said, “It’s just a few blocks from here—people fall on hard times, or passing through, they can stay and find help for getting back on their feet, roof over their heads, food, clothing, access to legal help and educational resources. David and I do intensive workshops there once a month with a few other professors from the University. You’re more than welcome to come, to help or observe.” Oh, that was really cool.

              “Why don’t you and Ellie-girl wash up and get ready for bed?” Thom offered, “I’m sorry you’ll be sharing with Ellie-girl tonight if that’s alright. If her bed’s too cramped, you’re welcome to ours,” Seda felt a little clammy at the offer, her brain automatically wanted to take it as something skeevy but, “Cyril and me can bunk out here for a night. We’ll see about getting you a bed of your own tomorrow, alright honey? You need anything at all, you let one of us know—Cyril and me sleep in the room next to yours and Ellie’s, and Maggie and David are just across the way, the door just off the kitchen. Baby girl why don’t you show Seda to the bathroom.”

              “You’re free to use my soaps if you prefer how they smell over Ellie’s," Maggie said, "we’ll get you your own things tomorrow.”

              “I um…I don’t have any money,” Sera offered nervously, “all I had on me was bank notes from Lady and I didn’t think I’d be able to use them anymore after all this so I left them where she could find them back at the hotel. But I’ll be working soon, right? I can pay you back-“

              “Hey Ellie, hun, why don’t you go run the bath, get it ready baby girl,” Thom suggested instead.

              “Sure thing!” Ellie chirped before friggin- she jumped down off her chair! Cripes! She should be more careful! “You want bubbles or no bubbles?” she asked, looking to Sera.

              “Uhh…what do you like, Ink?”

              “I like bubbles best, they smell so pretty and it’s lots of fun!”

              “Bubble it up then,” wait- was she running a bath for herself or for Sera? She didn’t have to- she was gone, already rushing into the bathroom, Samson…huh. He wasn’t right on her heels. He’d moved a bit but only to come to where Sera was seated and lay his head in her lap.

              All the adults were seated at the table again, Maggie reached across, holding out her hand so Sera put hers in it, her hand was warm, rubbing circles on the back of Sera’s reassuringly.

              “Seda. This is your home, for however long you want it. We’re all here for you. You’ll work, go to school, make friends—if you start up a steady social life honey we would appreciate you following a few ground rules. Letting us know how long you plan to be out, who you plan to be out with, where you’re going—that’s just for your safety and our peace of mind, if anything happened we would be able to help you. We talked it over last night—you’re only fourteen, but that does mean you’re on your way to growing up, we would ask that you respect a curfew—not staying out past seven during the week, eleven on weekends. We understand things happen, if you'd like to do something that will require being out later than that, be up front and ask, or if you stay out later than planned, just make it home as soon as possible. We just want you to be safe. You’re free to anything in the house—your house—cabinets are well stocked, so is the cold chest, and if there’s anything in particular you like to snack on, or something you’d like for a meal, just let us know—oh, and any allergies, sensitivities?” Sera shook her head, ‘no', “You can come with us next time we go grocery shopping if you’d like. We ask that you clean up after yourself—if you need help, just ask, that applies both to chores and life in general. You can come to any of us at any time…” she seemed to be thinking. “I was serious with Lady Emmauld earlier—this is a sober home. I’ve personally struggled with substance abuse, and I would appreciate you not bringing alcohol into this house—when you’re of age you’re free to go out and drink with friends, just be safe.” Oh…oh frig. Really? She seemed so put together, Sera…she couldn’t really imagine her having an addiction problem, cripes.

              “I promise I um, I’ll follow your rules.”

              Maggie offered her a small smile, “Sweetheart, if anything were to happen, just…know you’re safe here. The only thing we raise in this house, is that little girl—no hands, we would never hurt you or allow you to be hurt, if anything were to happen,  be it a girlfriend or a friend-friend or a stranger, anyone hurts you in any way, you come straight to us, and we will always believe you, always help you. is that understood?”

              Sera just nodded, she couldn’t really speak past the lump in her throat she didn’t think, but her brain kind of backpeddled real quick, “Girlfriend?”

              All the adults looked kind of startled, then to Maggie whose mouth was working and then she awkwardly offered up, “I-I-I didn’t mean to assume, of course, I apologize if I’ve over stepped um, when we discussed you coming to live with us, we did so with Ellie present and she- she’s a bit of a matchmaker, she um brought up that you might start dating, and only referenced that you might do so with other girls, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable-“

              “Nah it’s um…it’s all good just uh, lady didn’t approve is all, I’m use to keeping my business secret,” Sera shrugged. “Inky wants to matchmake me?”

              Maggie nodded, “If she gets on your nerves over it, just tell her, you don’t have to play along to spare her feelings. Although, David and myself, we likely never would have dated if our sweet granddaughter wasn’t a sneaky, conniving little meddler.” Seriously?

              “Well, I wouldn’t say _never,”_ Professor Farkus disagreed, “but she did fast track my long-term plan into a matter of months as opposed to two…maybe ten years.”

              “Ten years?” Thom chuckled.

              “I was giving myself up until retirement to work up the courage to ask her out.” That just made Thom cackle! He friggin’ snorted!

              “Oi,” Cyril reprimanded his husband, “leave ‘im be. It took Ellie-girl’s meddling to work you around to finally popping the question,” he looked to Sera, “Fifteen years I been with this ungrateful bastard before she came in the picture. Six months living with her and,” he clapped, “boom, the old man finally puts a ring on it.”

              “I’ll um…keep it in mind,” Sera said. but uh, “You’re er…cool with that? That I’d be dating girls?”

              “Of course sweetheart, you can see whoever you like—the only objection we would ever have is if someone didn’t make you happy, or hurt you somehow. I’ve had my share of…I had terrible taste in men, in my youth,” Maggie said, “too I was targeted by men I thought were the loves of my life but were actually, ultimately, predators that had no business looking me up, that I should never have gotten involved with. I would never want the same for you or Ellie, or anyone else for that matter.”

              Sera nodded. “I’m sorry you went through that.”

              “I made a great many decisions I regret, back then. That also makes me pretty good at spotting when someone else is about to do the same, so I’m grateful if I can help you girls make better choices than I did. One of the only good things I ever did in my youth, is make that man right there,” Maggie said, patting her son on the knee. “Haven’t peed right in over thirty years, but he’s worth it. Mostly.”

              “Mother!” Thom complained.

              “What?! It’s true, your ginormous head just about killed me, and did you even thank me? No, you spent the next year pooping all over everything and chewing off my nipples.”

              Thom hid his face in his hands, totally red, probably from head to toe, cripes! Sera had to slap a hand over her own mouth to keep from laughing…too hard.

              “Now, where were we?” Maggie wondered, thinking back and then, “We’ll get you set up with a local Healer—do you get yearly check up’s dear?” she checked, Sera nodded, “Good. If you can get me your former Healer’s information I’ll reach out and get your records transferred to whoever we set you up with—Ellie sees a Healer uptown, Healer Richard, he’s very professional and so good with her, we trust him implicitly but of course we understand if you’d prefer to see a woman. We’re all trained in basic first-aid and of course Cyril is our resident Healer-in-training. Does that cover everything?” she asked the men at her side.

              “We…we did discuss one more thing,” Thom ventured carefully as he rubbed at his face before looking back up, to Sera, “Sweetheart um…Maggie and Ellie have kept your confidence of course, but we know you’ve had a time of it, living with Lady Emmauld. We’re all here for you, if you need us—Ellie-girl gets nightmares, she comes and bunks with any of us, and uh, if you wake up, need someone to talk to or you're just straight up too scared to sleep alone, the same offer applies to you. And if you need…Ellie had a rough time, coming up—she told us that she told you about our situation. She…she’s seen a lot of neglect and abuse before we met. She gave us permission to let you know that uh, we have her seeing a therapist. Used to be once a week, still is whenever she needs it, but lately it’s been a once a month thing. If you need something like that, little love, just let us know, and we’ll get it sorted.”

              “Markham University has a counseling center open to students and faculty,” Maggie tacked on, “I see a councilor there regularly—they’ve a splendid set up, and it’s free—but of course if you don’t find someone there who you feel safe and comfortable with, money isn’t an issue.”

              Uhhh, “I’ll…if I need it, yeah—I’ll think about it, thanks for thinking of it. Free sounds good to me.”

              “Honey, the only thing you’ll need to prove you can live outside of Lady Emmauld’s house is your acceptance into Markham, and proof of rent, which I’ll get you at the end of the month, showing you can live outside her care, and documentation of your work and pay from Markham University when you start your job," Maggie said, "But we- the only thing you’ll be paying for is the price we discussed for rent. We’ve taken you in, you’re only a child honey, older than Ellie but no different. The four of us are all working and make more than enough to provide—you’ll go to school, go to work, have fun with your friends, save for your future. Any money you make goes to rent and maybe dates? Emergencies? Save it—you need anything, come to us. You want anything, let us know, depending on what it is we’ll either provide it or save it as an idea for your Wintersend or Birthday present.”

              The bathroom door…was apparently open already just a crack, but it opened even more and Inky called out, “Ask her when her birthday is! I’m not listening by the way!” before closing the door to just a crack.

              Sera snorted. “I'll be fifteen in Cloudreach. The 4th*.”

              For someone who _wasn’t listening,_ Inky shrieked with excitement, “Abuelita!”

              “We’ll go shopping, calm yourself mija, is the bathtub all ready? Nice and warm?”

              Ellie gave up on being ‘inconspicuous’ and swung the door open…well, she opened it wider and was swinging with it, both hands on the door handle as she leaned with it, kind of hanging with her knees a few inches off the floor, “Si! It’s bath time S- er! Um! _Papi!”_ Why Papi?

              “Oh!” Thom snapped his fingers, nodding, before looking to Sera, “Uhhh honey, sweetheart is there uh, anything you’d like us to call you? Is Seda short for something, do you have a preference in names or nicknames or the uh, like?”

              …

              They…they might think its stupid but…but maybe… “It’s kind of dumb, but uh…my friends call me Sera? Kind of a story. But um, I sort of prefer it.”

              “That’s not dumb at all, and you’re never to speak of your preferences or yourself like that again, young lady,” Professor Farkus insisted. Kind of like a reprimand but it didn’t feel like any heat to it, just…sort of like he was defending her. To herself…or maybe to Lady, she’s the one who would say it was dumb.

              “Yay! Come on Sera—bath!" Ellie cheered, "Come play with me!”

              At first Sera thought that meant she was going to keep Ink company while she was in the bathtub—that made sense, she was only a little kid, it probably wasn’t safe to just leave her all alone in a tub of water, but nope,  Inky just started taking off her socks, and was working on the buttons on the front of her dress when she looked up to Sera and asked, “Do you need help with your dress, Ser’?”

              “Which one of us is bathing?”

              “Both! Unless you want to take a bath by yourself. I’ve taken baths with Ciel before, and my Maggie. It’s more fun and we can help each other—I get the itchiest right in the middle of my back and my arms can’t reach! Mother Wendy says the Maker doesn’t make mistakes, but I think that’s selling Him short—He’s the Make-er! He can make the most biggest best decisions, and colossal mistakes! Like making my arms too short for my body, or my body too short for this world!” she looked up at the ceiling, reminding Him, “I need to be _taller!_ I have things to reach! Like the stove! And things on high shelves! And my _dreams!”_

              Maker help her, she- this-

              Sera started laughing. No hand over her mouth, just, full on, belly shaking laughter, she was practically screaming with it and Inky just smiled real big at her, laughing too.

              Bathtime was fun, and uh…helpful. Sera wasn’t entirely sure how to- she’d never bathed herself, and Ink helped her with her back, and even with her hair because she said it’s super relaxing to let someone wash your hair and she wasn’t wrong, Maker, Sera almost fell asleep while Inky massaged her head, scrubbing up her hair really good and helped washing the soap out, she used this real nice lavender shampoo it was just the best.

              “You’re so pretty, Sera,” Ellie said as she worked some conditioner into her hair, her scalp had been feeling pretty itchy lately, air was real dry. “You’re hairs super super cute like this! You can see your ears better, they’re the cutest! And you’ve got the most beautiful eyes! Pretty pretty baby blues—like my Abuelita’s and my Papi!” she offered cheerfully, guiding Sera’s head back a bit so she could pour water on her hair without getting it in her eyes and then she pressed a great big kiss ‘mwah!’ right to Sera’s forehead! Friggin’-! Ink was sweet and Sera wasn’t sure what to do with compliments, they made her feel squirmy but kind of…better, in a way. Ellie didn’t like lying, she’d said, and she seemed like…truth was important to her, as long as she could be, she was honest. Lady would lie just for the heck of it, not even for self-preservation or to save her own pride, just because, like it was an impulse she couldn’t check. If Ellie was saying something...it might just be true. Or at least, the girl's honest opinion.

              Sera just sort of followed the leader with everything else, scrubbing herself head to toe with a soapy washcloth. And once they were clean they just sort of soaked because Ellie said they deserved it—it’d been a hard day! The bubbles were real nice, smelled flowery, and Sera wasn’t so self-conscious since they sort of helped with covering her up, she…frig, Ink’d been right, she was like a twig, jutting hipbones and ribcage.

              But Lady hadn’t hurt her eyes, Sera’d reclaimed her hair…she’d get the rest back. If this life stuck, yeah, she’d be just fine.

              Especially considering she was now living with the snackiest person on the planet. A little toe poked her right in the ribs and Sera looked up to Ellie who looked around like she was making sure no one else was in the bathroom other than Samson snoozing on the bathroom rug, and then she leaned out of the tub and pulled a tin out from under it.

              “These is my bathtime cookies—if you promise to never ever ever tell anyone else about them, you can have them too! As many as you want, there's always more!”

              “I’m not real big on cookies,” Sera shrugged, “but thanks Ink, your secrets safe with me.”

              “You suuuure? They’re super yummy! Mister Simon, he’s the baker we bought our rolls from, he makes these and they’re just the best!”

              …they weren’t half bad. Sera did try one at least, crunchy, full of huge chunks of chocolate. And once they were out of the tub, wrapped up in clean towels, they brushed their teeth real good.

              “Papi’s going to be leaving for work soon, he’s going to help me with my hair first, and then we read bedtime stories if you wanna come,” Ellie said once she had her nightgown on.

              “I’ll be in in a minute,” Sera agreed, and Inky smiled before snapping her fingers twice and Samson perked up from his spot on the floor, followed her out of the bathroom, door closing behind them.

              This…was crazy. This was insane. She was beyond relived Lady was gone but nervous as hell she’d still manage to find some way to get her back, that when she woke up tomorrow this would all be some big misunderstanding. Was this her life now? Encouragement? Going to sleep clean and comforted, with a full belly? Nightly peptalks with an eleven-year-old?

              Sera just took a few minutes to breathe, and think and let it sink in before she dug into the bag of her things and found a nightgown for herself, that was easy enough to do alone, she could just pull it on over head…backwards, crap. But she got it figured out, she needed to put her head in, being able to see the tagless side, she’d remember that next time. Probably.

              Maggie was reclined on the couch when Sera came out, reading a book she looked up from, “Oh good,” she smiled, standing up and stretching oh, frig, she’d been waiting huh? Only one bathroom and…six people living in the place. She’d try to keep better track of how much time she was taking in the bathroom she hadn’t ever had to think about someone else waiting for her to be done. This house…was a lot smaller than Lady’s. Somehow felt bigger though, like she had more room. Maggie came up and rested a hand on Sera’s shoulder, “All done? Do you need anything before I take a bath?” Sera shook her head ‘no’, and the woman nodded, pressing a kiss to Sera’s cheek, “Alright, if you need anything let us know. Did Ellie show you where she hides her bathtime cookies?” Oh frick! Sera was keeping her mouth shut—she’d promised!

              “I uh…don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sera shrugged.

              Maggie snickered, “She tell you to keep it a secret?” and then she smiled real big, shaking her head, “I don’t know how she thinks her cookie tin gets restocked all on its own.” Sera giggled, when was the last time she giggled? Or really laughed like she had tonight?

              “Inky’s the best,” Sera said, frig her eyes felt kind of teary? But she was happy? “I um, I really appreciate everything you guys are-“

              “Shhhh, oh sweetheart—it’s okay, you’ve had an overwhelming weekend—you need a weekend to recover from your weekend,” she jested lightly, raising a hand to Sera’s cheek and thumbing away her tears, “Get some good rest, have sweet dreams.”

              Papi was Thom, she’d get that down soon, he was seated on the bed with Inky who had a closed book in her lap, he was doing something with her hair, sectioning it out and putting some kind of gunk in it. Coconut oil, smelled pretty. They’d been chatting quietly and when Sera came in Inky perked up, bouncing in her seat a bit,

              “Hola! This is my biggest story book—you can pick your favorite, kay?” she offered, holding out the book to her.

              She wasn’t real big on kids stories so it wasn’t like she had a favorite—she didn’t know bedtime stories, but she did know books. This one was well used and the wear in the spine gave her a pretty good idea which stories were favorites, so she flipped to one and when she picked Inky held out her hands for the book back to see she guessed and Ellie gasped super loud, enough to startle Thom a bit, he kind of jumped in his seat and looked at Ink and she exclaimed,

              “Sera! We’re _samesies!_ The Dragon and the Nug is my favorite story _too!”_

              Well frig, she was excited, “That’s super cool Inky.”

              Ellie patted the empty space on the bed alongside her so Sera laid it on down, and listened while Inky enthusiastically read this story about some asshole dragon going around being a dick to everyone, and this sweet little nug. Kind of dumb though, the dragon got hurt and was whining to everyone he’d been an ass to, looking for help and the nug just friggin does it! But Inky was real happy about it, and it…it was kind of scary. Ellie was this sweet little kid, saw good in a lot of things, a lot of people and…there was lots of assholes out there, like that dragon, that’d want to hurt her, or take advantage of how nice she was. She-

              Sera wasn’t sure how long this would last, how long until the Rainier-Farkus gang decided they were sick of her and didn’t want her around, or how long it’d take Lady to figure out a way to get her back. But as long as she was around? She was gonna make sure no asshole dragons hurt Inky. That little bastard Ciel better be an actual good friend!

              Cause Inky…Inky was a great friend. When she was done with the first story, she leaned over and kissed Sera on the top of her head, and asked if she wanted to hear another one. Sera was down for it, so Ellie sat back, reclining against Thom who’d finished with her hair and just sat with her while he still had time to, listened.

              Sera fell asleep to the sound of Inky reading a story about three little baby Druffalo outsmarting a wolf.

 

* * *

 

             There was weight on her legs, what…why? It took her a few seconds to remember where she was, but it wasn’t that hard with the smell of coconut oil in her nose, and the sight of fluffy red curls in her face, Inky was curled up against her, fast asleep. Someone had tucked Sera in, she had the barest memory of a hand carding through her hair and...saying something about buttons? Oh Samson was kind of laying on her, legs…kind of nice, it was warm, comforting, made her feel safe that there was a big mabari at the end of the bed that she was pretty sure would protect her, definitely knew was there to protect Ellie. Huh.

              Sera could hear people in the kitchen, she was nervous about going out, it felt a little awkward, her first day in a new place with kind-of strangers, but she really should say something. She got out of bed real careful not to wake Inky, she should definitely rest some more if she could.

              Thom was seated at the counter, cradling a cup of coffee in his hands, oh man, he looked beat, absolutely exhausted, must’ve just gotten back from his shift. Maggie was just coming out of her bedroom, yawning as she finished wrapping her robe around herself, going to where Professor Farkus stood at the stove, cooking up sausages, and kissing him good morning. Cyril was stirring up a big bowl of something, eggs she thought, and Professor Farkus was at the stove cooking up sausages.

              “Morning pretty lady, how’s our resident genius today? You sleep good honey?” Cyril greeted her cheerfully, drawing the other adults attention that she was up.

              “I slept great, th-thanks,” she said, biting her lip, frig, “Um. There’s s-something wrong with Inky I think? Her breathing's rattley, I mean it’s quiet but its there? Like when she’s outside, only she’s been inside all night.” She'd fallen asleep first but something told her the resident eleven-year-old that needed her hand held to go anywhere hadn't been out in the streets all hours of the night.

              Cyril put his bowl down and came bounding into the bedroom real quick, popped his head in, then went in close to listen before he came out, “I don’t hear anything, but let me get something,” he said, popping back into the kitchen and opening up this medical bag he’d left sitting out on the countertop, pulled out this thing he plugged his ears with before going back to Ink and gently pressing the other end to her back. She stirred a bit, but fell right back into sleep as he said, “Shh baby girl, you don’t have to get up yet…” he pulled the things out of his ears and came back out, closing the door quietly behind him, and then he rested a hand on Sera’s shoulder, “You can hear that?” and when she nodded, he pressed a kiss to her temple, “Bless those beautiful ears of yours, girl. Thank you, sweetheart, so much, for saying something. Hey love,” he said to Thom who turned in his seat to look at them, “I don’t think we should send her to school today babe. Weekend got away from us, she didn’t rest up as much as we’d planned, she should stay in bed as much as possible.”

              “I’ll stay up with her,” Thom agreed with a yawn, shaking himself a bit, “Think we can trick her into thinking its Saturday again? That was the easiest time we had of her not putting up such a fuss about missing school.”

              “No, absolutely not,” Professor Farkus objected, pointing at Thom with his spatula, “the last time we did that she did not speak to us for  _three days_ when she found out we lied. I won’t go through that again, I refuse.”

              “Shit- oh! I mean uh, crap,” Thom amended, sending an apologetic look Sera’s way, well shit, she didn’t care about swears, but she supposed they were mindful with a little kid always around, applied the same to her, “Forgot about that part.”

              “’cause your brain’s sleep-addled love,” Cyril reprimanded, coming up behind the man and wrapping his arms around his waist, pressing a kiss into his shoulder, “you need  _sleep._  Like a person. Chronic fatigue is real and if you drop dead on me because you didn’t take care of yourself, I’m divorcing you.”

              “Can you even divorce a dead person? Why does that sound like a legitimate threat- don’t- don’t divorce me just cause I’m dead-“

              “Too late! It’s decided, and you know me, I stick to my decisions. I’m sticking with you so long as you breathe, sticking to school, sticking with this haircut. Haven’t cut my hair a different way since I was twenty.”

              “I can watch her,” Sera said, blushing a bit, frig, she- it was dumb to offer, they barely knew her, and she didn’t know the first thing about looking after a little kid, especially not a sicky one. She barely knew how to look after herself! She shouldn’t be getting emancipated, friggin someone should come and take her from her own care!

              “Are you sure honey? We’d really appreciate it,” Thom said, “And I’d still be around if you needed anything—right in there,” he pointed to his bedroom door, “just come get me, alright?”

              Oh, that’d be okay, yeah, she could do that. She wanted to help. “You got it.”

              “Thank you so much, sweet girl,” Maggie said, “I’ll be getting out of work a bit early today and David only has a few classes to teach.”

              “I’ll cancel my office hours and bring my work home with me,” Professor decided, like he latched on to her line of thinking, ‘cause Maggie smiled and said,

              “Ellie will have plenty of people watching out for her then, and I’ll take you shopping as promised, alright?”

              “You don’t have to-“ Sera started.

              Maggie came to her and wrapped her up in a squeezy hug, rubbing her back a bit, “You need things sweetheart, don’t even worry about it,” she intoned as she pulled back, raising a hand to tuck Sera’s hair behind her ear, “We’ll go, and it’ll be fun having some girl time. We’ll shop, we’ll eat, make a nice evening of it, okay honey?”

              Definitely wasn’t arguing, shite, she didn’t want to sound ungrateful or piss the woman off or something. She already…if she put up half as much fight with Lady, she’d be in for a slap, not a friggin’ hug.

              “You like scrambled eggs, button?” Cyril asked as he resumed his own share of the cooking. Her?

              “Button?” she asked tentatively as Maggie led her to sit at the kitchen counter before the woman went around to the cold chest, digging through it.

              Cyril smiled warm, letting go of the weird cagey thing he was stirring with to reach out and tweak the end of her nose, “Cause of your nose babe, cute as a button.” Really? Lady always said it was too big for her face, super round at the end like a miniature clown nose Sera thought. “Now, eggs—scrambled, over easy, hard boiled? Or would you prefer an omelet?”

              He’d asked if she liked scrambled first, and whatever he was doing to them _looked_ like scrambling and she didn’t really have strong feelings about it so, “Scrambled is great.”

              “Then scrambled you shall have!” Cyril declared, holding the bowl high overhead, he was a nut, same as Inky.

              Ellie woke up and came wandering out of her room, Samson on her heels, the girl cuddling Russel while rubbing sleep from her eyes with her free hand, “Buenos dias,” she offered sleepily as she staggered over and just kind of bumped into the first adult leg she came to. It was Thom’s, hanging off the stool he was seated at and he chuckled as she rested her head on his knee, like she was full on gonna just fall back asleep standing up. He got his hands up under her arms and hoisted her into his lap, sharing a bit of a look with the rest of the grownups before he carefully broke the news,

              “Hey baby girl. Papa says you should stay home today,” ruddy throwin’ Cyril right under the carriage! Bloke’s mouth dropped open indignantly and he reached over his shoulder like he was trying to reach something he couldn’t quite get his hand on,

              “Mags, be a doll and get your son’s knife out of my back, huh?”

              “He’s David’s son when he betrays his husband,” Maggie said as she poured herself a glass of apple juice, looking to Sera and shaking carton in invitation, so Sera nodded. Apples was good.

              “Why’s he only my son when he’s misbehaving? You had him longer!” Professor complained.

              “I am a grown man, not a  _child_  I don’t- I don’t ‘misbehave’,” Thom said, insulted before he pressed a kiss to Inky’s hair and said, “Sorry Ellie-girl, but no school, okay? You’re gonna stay home with Sera ‘n me and get some rest.”

              Oh man, she was worried she was about to witness some kind of temper tantrum or uh, someone reaching their limit with Ellie taking up an attitude or something but, the girl perked right up and said,

              _“Really?!”_  real excited, she even bounced in her seat when Cyril looked to Thom, and then back to her and nodded, “Yay! I get to stay home with  _Sera!_  Gracias Papa!”

              “Oi, w-we all agreed with him,” Thom was quick to inform her—ha!

              “Papi, jealousy is a sin,” Ellie teased, giggling.

              “So’s being a sneaky little A-“ Thom was smarming back, tickling at her sides, but he stopped, kind of choked on his words, eyes real wide before he said, “Antivan.”

              Ellie…shite, she really must not be feeling too great huh? She was kind of pale, and she rested her head back against her father’s chest bent back to look up at the underside of his face, “Crees que deberiamos decirle?”

              “No baby, not yet,” Thom said quietly. What not yet?

              “Debemos asegurarnos de que sea seguro,” Professor said to her.

              Ellie nodded, biting her lip and looking down at her lap, frick, she- what was going on? She…Sera didn’t like how  _sad_ she looked.

              “Hey Inky, we’re gonna have fun today, okay? I promise,” Sera tried, maybe that’d cheer her up? “We’ll stay snuggly and um, we can read and stuff? Play with Russel and Mister Pinkie?”

              Inky smiled, not very big, but enough to assure Sera she hadn’t messed up trying to comfort her, “It’ll be super fun,” she said, “Thanks for staying home with me.”

              “Of course Ink,” where else was she gonna be?

              Breakfast was great, Cyril even made up more scrambled eggs when Sera’d been reaching for the bowl again for more and found it empty. He had to leave right after for work, kissed Thom goodbye, and dropped a kiss to Ellie’s hair, she’d stayed sitting in Thom’s lap while they ate breakfast.

              “You need anything at all, Thom’ll be here,” Cyril said to Sera, “Maggie’ll be in her office up on Park street, and David and I will be at the University until later—you can send for us if there’s an emergency,” he assured, before he kissed Sera on the forehead, “Have fun, don’t let her wear you out—you get some rest too, okay?”

              “Sure thing, we’ll uh, we’ll be all good,” Sera promised.

              Maggie came out of her bedroom again, hair in a neat bun, pantsuit and coat on as she hung the longish handle of her briefcase on her arm and came around, doling out cheek kisses to Ink and Thom and Sera, “Bye bye my babies, have a good day alright?”

              “Feel better mija,” Professor intoned, hugging Ellie before he clapped Thom on the shoulder and then he smiled to Sera, friggin, patted her on the head…didn’t make her feel dumb or belittled or nothin’ just, it was kind of weird. Comforting? “Have an excellent day my brilliant girl—I’ll bring home a few books I think you’ll like.”

              “Th-thanks, um, bye everyone. Have a good day,” she wished them? This was…this definitely didn’t happen in Lady’s house. Goodbyes and kisses and- and missing each other? Frick, did she miss these people now that they were off to work?

              Thom went to go take a bath after he uh, he helped Sera. He’d been doing the dishes and she didn’t know dick about cleaning but he showed her, let her help even though she wasn’t real good at it, he just rewashed a few of her plates and gave her encouragement with the next one. Inky took her hand and asked what she wanted to do, and Cyril said she should stay in bed as much as possible so,

              “Cuddle time, Ink, come on Sammy,” she said, getting the pups attention and leading him and his girl back to the little bedroom to lay down. She looked around real quick and picked Mister Pinkie up off the top of a chest of drawers, and as many books as she could get in her arms to carry back and set on the table next to Ellie’s bed. Kay, she uh, she could do this probably. They’d just lay around and read and wait for the responsible adults to either wake up or come home.

              Thom came to check on them before laying down, and he had Ellie take a vial of medicine, brought a tray of warm tea, cups for Ellie and Sera too, told Sera to feel free to come get him if she or Ellie needed anything at all before he finally went to get himself some good sleep.

              He wasn’t the only one, as excited as Ellie’d been that she could stay home and play with Sera, her poor little body really was sick, and with her tummy full, still in her pajamas, all curled up against Sera and a big warm mabari in bed? She was out before Sera got too far into reading from one of her storybooks, and she thought she’d just stop there, but uh, she was only half way through the story and when she made to close the book, Samson lifted his head off of Ink’s shoulder to quietly  _huff_ in her direction like ‘oi! You aren’t done yet!’, silly pup wanted to know how it ended huh? So, Sera obliged, readin’ real quiet as she absently petted the mabari’s back.

              She didn’t mean to fall asleep herself, but she woke to a calloused hand feeling at her forehead, startled her a bit but um, she- she was safe, it was Thom. “Hey honey, sorry just making sure you weren’t coming down with anything too.”

              Oh frick! She- she was supposed to be paying attention! Watching Inky not napping with her- “Crap, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep, honest-“

              “Shhh, sweetheart, it’s fine,” Thom assured her quietly, “we fall asleep with her all the time—she’s good about waking us up if she needs something, and I’m sure if something happened you’d wake up. I really appreciate you staying with her today. I just woke up, figured I should check on you two before heading back to bed—you hungry babe?”

              …yeah. She was, actually. Seemed almost weird, there was a conflict between ‘hungry’ and the instinct to deny it so she didn’t make someone mad, but that was dumb—he asked! And she was pretty sure no one in this house was going to get upset with her for eating. She nodded.

              Thom smiled warmly. “Come on out to the kitchen and we’ll see what we can do about that,” he said, so she detangled herself from Ink as careful as possible and followed him out. “Alright, let’s see here…” he opened up a few cabinets, then went to the cold chest to peek inside, “we still got leftovers from last night—pasta, it’s good out of the cold chest, but I can warm it up for you if you’d prefer. We got things for sandwiches—bread, couple different kinds of cheese, chicken, turkey…uhh. Got lots of breakfast food—there’s steak too if you’re interested, it’s technically for dinner but since you and Maggie will be eating out tonight she won’t be home to eat her steak, it needs eaten either way. Any of that striking your fancy?”

              Shite, uhh… “Whatever’s easiest,” she supposed with a shrug.

              He closed the lid on the cold chest and turned to look at her, looked like he was considering something and he went to the counter patted the space before one of the stools so Sera took a seat there, “Hey honey um…it’s okay to have opinions, you know? You’re safe to say whatever it is you want, big or small, alright? There’s no wrong answers, no one’s going to think it’s annoying or inconvenient. Not that big a deal and I might be totally off base—if I am, I apologize—but it seems like every time someone asks what you want, you spend a lot more time thinking about what to say to appease them rather than what you actually want.”

              “S-sorry. I uh…I get nervous when you guys ask me for that sort of thing, I usually…yeah I usually don’t get an opinion or if I do say something,” she shrugged, she was used to getting everything she said speculated on and picked to bits. “My brain just kind of draws a blank. I’ll uh, work on it.”

              “We’ll work on it together,” he said, patting her hand before he stepped back from the counter, “Just take a minute to think it over lovey. I’ll be right here when you’re ready.”

              Kind of felt embarrassing when her brain did work through all the options and reminded her Professor’s pasta had been straight up  _banging_  and she did kind of want to see what all the fuss was about, eating it cold. Thom just smiled, said it was an ‘excellent choice’ and got it out of the cold chest for her, put it on a plate, “Go ahead try it—you want it warmed up, just say the word.” Friggin! It was even better cold she was pretty sure, holy crap! And there was plenty left over so she shared with Thom and it was kind of fun for some reason, enjoying something good and sharing it with someone else.

              “I’m gonna make up some soup for Ellie-girl and leave it covered on the stove—when she wakes up check and see if she wants some, okay?” he checked with her while she cleaned up the plate in the sink, she nodded—that’d be easy enough, frick, she hadn’t thought about food at all, the fact that she might have to be in charge of getting lunch together for Inky, it was a relief that someone who actually knew a frig about cooking was going to provide. She didn’t know the first thing…

              She could say what she wanted? He…he hadn’t asked, and she got nervous sick to her stomach for a moment when she realized she was about to say something, just- “C-can I help? I um, I don’t know much about cooking,” anything, “but I’d, er, like to learn? S-sometime, it doesn’t- crap, you have to be tired and just wanna do your thing real quick and be back to bed, I’m sor-“

              “Sera, honey, it’s fine—I don’t have a problem teaching you, and I'd appreciate the help, that’s real sweet of you. Come on then, you can use Maggie’s apron to keep your nightgown clean—wash your hands up good and we’ll get started.”

              She scrubbed good and put on the apron, kind of felt like gearing up for an experiment, ‘cept she’d never set a foot in the lab with bare feet, and she didn’t have anything protecting her eyes…or her hands for that matter, yowch! He’d shown her how to clean and chop up the carrots they needed, even helped her with the first couple cuts before he let her try on her own, and she did good she thought but she sliced  _right_  into her finger- oh crap did she mess up the whole thing? No one wanted blood in their soup, she was pretty sure, shite!

              “Oh,  _muffins_ ," somehow the word sounded like a swear word? Guess when you had a little kid underfoot dropping the 'f' bomb wasn't gonna fly, "Honey—here,” Thom carefully took her hand in his, looking over the cut on her index finger, and he grabbed a clean towel hanging on the oven handle, as he guided her over to the sink, poured water over her finger before- frig, pressing the towel into it, “sorry angel, we gotta put pressure on it, it’ll help stop the bleeding, you’re okay.”

              Oh, yeah, pressure kind of hurt but she’d flinched ‘cause, “It’s white, i-it’s going to stain right?”

              “Maybe but that’s what it’s here for, cleaning up messes and the like, it can always be washed—important thing is you,” he said, “everyone has kitchen mishaps, just about lost my thumb trying to make lobster for Cyril one anniversary—dating tip, save up, take your girlfriend out to a proper restaurant if you want to get fancy like that, trust me, you’ll be way better off. Hell, my first time cooking I just about burned the damn house down, and I was just trying to make some toast.”

              Sera snorted at that, "Seriously?" she didn't know cooking but toast was just like...it was  _toast_  she was pretty sure if you gave her a minute she'd figure it out without arson.

              "Oi, I was four, I'm just lucky I kept my eyebrows," he chuckled.

              "F-four?" okay, nevermind holy crap! That didn't sound right. "Your mother let that fly?"

              "She uh...I'd been home alone at the time. My mother had me young, younger than you even, would you know what to do with a toddler if it was just you, all by yourself raising them?"

              She- frick, like twelve, thirteen or something? No uh...no wonder she had troubles with er, addiction. Sera couldn't imagine taking care of herself right now, let alone a friggin  _baby._  "You're mom's real tough. And um, you're good people."

              "Things could've turned out worse. We both got chances taken on us, one shot, hers was school, mine was tourney. Little bit of help we were able to take a long way."

              "...wait, holy crap, you were in tourney?"

              "Grand Champion."

              "Shut up! Seriously?"

              "Well before your time hun, had to of been 17, 18 years ago? I'll tell you all about it sometime," he promised, pulling the cloth away to look at her finger, "looks like this is on the mend."

              She nodded, “Thanks. I’m real sorry if I messed up anything.”

              “Not a problem babe, we’ll just clean it up—wash the knife, get you a new one, clean up the cutting board and throw away the last couple chunks of carrot just to be safe, the rest should be totally fine.”

              It um…it really was. He got her finger bandaged up and let her help clean up the bit of mess she’d made before letting her get right back into helping him—she was extra, extra careful with the rest of the carrots and chicken, he showed her how to peel up potatoes, let her help with one and had her chop it up into bite sized chunks and he just kind of talked her through the rest, let her get a jar of broth out of the cabinet and he lit the stove but let her man it, pouring in broth, throw in the chicken and veggies they’d prepped, and ingredients she had to measure out exactly with little measuring spoons, like basil and garlic, salt, pepper, stir it all together real good, watch for it bubbling up and stirring occasionally as it heated. It was actually a lot like stuff she’d done before—she knew all about accurately measuring things, heating them to the correct temperature. Cooking was honestly a little easier when she thought of it—if she messed up in lab, it was basically messed up, things could go sideways  _real_  fast. But with cooking there was a sort of safety net in that, if she did accidentally add too much or too little of something, it was safe to add more of something else, or throw the rest in once she realized it, Thom talked her through all sorts of things like how to thicken it up if it got too thin, and how to reduce away anything that was too runny.

              “Now, the only way to really know the job is done—with absolute certainty—it’s our duty to taste test it,” Thom insisted, scooping up a spoonful he blew on before putting a bit in his mouth. Oh, he licked his lips and everything, “Mmm, perfect, it’s delicious Sera, well done!” he complimented, holding out to spoon so she could take a taste for herself from the other side. Oh wow!

              “It is really good!”

              “I’m proud of you honey, you were a great help. We’ll leave the lid on the pot to help keep it warm, Ellie-girl’s gonna love it.”

              Sera was actually kind of stupid excited for Inky to try it, made her a little impatient for the girl to wake up, but she reminded herself the girl was home because she was sick, needed lots of rest. Huh, she was pretty sure it’d be okay for her to eat in bed—oh! There was a tray, she’d seen it in one of the cabinets! If Inky woke up hungry, Sera’d get her a bowl and bring it to her, she wouldn’t have to get up at all!

              “Sera?” Inky’s voice wondered quietly, ahh!

              Sera dashed into the bedroom, “I’m here sweets, how you feeling?” she’d sat up, breathing sounded better to Sera, and she was petting Samson, smiley, that was good!

              “Better, sorry I got sleepy on you, I hope you weren’t bored,” Ellie worried.

              “Nah Ink, don’t sweat it—we got our nap on! And uh,” shite, what was she supposed to call these people? “Mister Rainier made me lunch, and let me help make you some soup—you hungry? You want some?”

              “Which Mister Rainier? Is papa home already?” Ellie asked curious. Oh, right.

              “Uhhh Thom. Your papa’s still at work I think.”

              “Oh! You know, papi and everyone, they’d be okay with you calling them by their first names—that’s what they call you by, right?” Wasn’t happening. Okay, maybe. She’d think about it, felt ruddy weird calling people by their first names, she’d get her ears knocked off of her if she ever called Lady ‘Anya’. “Thanks so much for making me soup, I’m sure it’ll be great!” Ellie said, moving like she was gonna get up,

              “Just stay right there, kay Ink? I’ll be back in a sec! You want anything to drink?”

              She got her a big bowl of soup, had to remember to grab a spoon, duh, can’t eat soup without it. And she’d seen crackers in the cabinet, salty kind—Lady’d let her eat those most of the time, they actually helped settle her stomach when it was upset, so Inky might like them, and crackers was good with soup right? And Inky wanted milk, so Sera carefully poured a glass of it, in one of the littler cups that looked like it’d been bought with someone with Inky’s little grabbers in mind.

              Inky yawned real big, waking up a bit more as Sera put the tray down on the bed, and she got a big smile in return, “Gracias, Sera!” and when she took a bite she did this little happy wriggle, “Chica! It’s so yummy, you did such a great job!”

              She felt a lot better after getting so much good sleep, and she ate really well—Sera cleaned up everything all by herself! Samson was getting kind of antsy, sort of pacing circles around Ink’s room, she said he probably needed to be let out to pee and needed a walk, being cooped up all day wasn’t good for him apparently. Inky wanted to take him, of course Sera could come along—she was going to, frig, she wasn’t just going to let Ellie go off on her own, even if she did have her big guard-dog with her, what if she got lost or needed help or something? She wasn’t too sure she should even be leaving the house, but Ellie insisted she needed to stretch her legs a bit and could use some fresh air—a little walk around the neighborhood wasn’t going to hurt anything and they’d bundle up good. So Sera poked her head into Cyril and Thom’s room, poor guy was sleeping hard, she felt badly waking him—she’d thought about just going, ‘cause they’d probably be back before they could be missed, but if something happened…she didn’t want to break their rules, they um…they weren’t like Lady’s, they seemed like they were actually there for a reason, to protect them.

              “Hey um, Thom?” she tried it out, “Inky’s up and feeling better—she ate real good. Sammy needs to go on a walk and Ellie wants to take him, I’ll go along too, and I’ll make sure she’s warm and stuff, is that okay?”

              Thom yawned, rubbed at his face a bit as he woke up a little more, thinking, and he nodded his head, “I don’t see why not. Just be careful—bundle up hun, and stick together alright? Anything happens come get me,” he rolled over and reached for the nightstand, opening the drawer and pulling out something, a tiny draw-string bag he handed Sera. “Here—bit of coin in case you want something warm to drink while you’re out, or something from the bakery, treat yourself sweetheart. Have fun and be safe. Let me know when you get back.”

              “Thanks, will do.”

              Kay, she had this, Ink was already dressed when she got back, comfy woolen pants and a pretty pink sweater that looked toasty, she hadn’t needed any help or anything which was good. Though Sera couldn’t quite say the same thing—getting her nightgown off was no problem but the dress she pulled out of the bag of her things was another story.

              “Do you need help, Sera?” Ellie wondered, and when she nodded, “You got it! Here," the kid climbed up onto the bed to stand on it, be up almost as tall as Sera and she helped pull the dress on over her head, did up the butt load of buttons on the back, “I have dresses like this, it fits snug once its all buttoned up, but the trick is to button it up almost all the way to the tippy top, but leave hmm,” she poked Sera’s back on the halfway mark between her shoulder blades, “leave the top four or so unbuttoned and you can just pull the dress on over your head and then reach back and button the rest up or someone can help you easy peasy!”

              Sera turned to face her, smoothing out her skirt a bit, friggin annoying skirts was but, “Thanks Inky.” Cripes! Big face smushing kiss, right to the cheek!

              “You are welcome! Now coat—do you have a scarf or hat or anything Ser’? No?!” Ellie squeaked, “Ummmm I’ll be right back!”

              She jumped down off the bed and skidded through the door, running across the house and throwing open a door. She came charging back in with a pretty light blue scarf and a thick, white knitted hat, “These are my Maggie’s, but she won’t mind if you borrow them—she wouldn’t want you to be cold!”

              “It’ll be fine-“

              “Sera, it’s really super cold out, and what if you get sick? We’d take care of you, but being sick isn’t any fun. I promise Maggie won’t be upset if you use them, honest.”

              “…promise?”

              “Yup!”

              …she’d done pretty good with promises so far. So. Sera borrowed the hat and scarf, they got all coated up, even Samson had this warm red poncho thing Ellie put on over his head before securing a leash to his collar. Big guy looked real excited to go outside.

              She was real glad she agreed to the hat and scarf, frick! It was freezing! Wintersend had come and gone weeks ago—that implied  _winters end_  why hell was it still so friggin cold?! Skirts was dumb, her legs were freezing, but it was nice walking with the Human girl—no hand holding, they linked arms as they walked along, that helped with staying warmer, and it was nice to see Sammy so excited, pumped to be out in the fresh air. This was loads better than her walks all by herself…kind of better than her walks not by herself. When she was with Mack she was always so scared and nervous, waiting to get caught, always looking over her shoulder, and she wasn’t…she wasn’t real sure if Mack really liked her or not? They never talked about it, and the Human girl was always kind of seeing other people? Sometimes it seemed like she was going to make a bigger move with Sera, actually say if they were or weren’t a thing, and sometimes Sera was pretty sure she was just being strung along for the fun of it—this weird experiment or something. It bothered her, ‘cause she couldn’t tell if it was Lady’s bullshit getting to her—that of course no one would like someone like her—or some kind of bullshit from Mack.

              Should she write her? She wasn’t real sure how, they only met up in person, it wasn’t like she had an address. Wasn’t entirely sure Mack had an address, any sort of home-place she brought Sera along to was always a friend’s.

              “Hola Mister Johnson!” Ellie was calling out, waving to a neighbor taking out his trash, he smiled and waved back,

              “Hola Elena, hola Samson,” he called back, nodding politely to Sera with a little wave.

              “Hola Miss-“

              Maker, she knew everyone on her street it sounded like. She was chatting away a mile a minute, telling Sera all about the neighborhood—where it was and wasn’t safe to be, who was nice, who to avoid. There was some groady types around that 'Abuelita' insisted they absolutely never speak to, but there were lots of people around they could trust to help them if they needed it, Ellie friggin’ just introduced her to about a thousand people it felt like—'Hola, how’re you? This is my friend Sera! She’s going to be living with us from now on, she’s the best!’, hugging Sera’s arm real tight as they walked along.

              “We really are friends, huh Ink?” Sera asked.

              “Uh-huh! Best friends!”

              Wait, frig, really? “Best friends?”

              “Yup!”

              “What about Ciel?”

              “He’s my best friend too—you can have more than one best friend Ser’. It means I love you lots and I’m always going to be there for you!”

              She- “You  _what_  me?!”

              Ellie seemed to think it over for a minute, not sure why Sera’d gotten so screechy, “I love you? Lots!”

              “Just like that huh?” Sera asked quietly, “You love me?”

              “Why else would I say it?” Ellie wondered.

              Huh. Well, at least there was one girl in her life that wasn’t stringing her along—she knew what she felt, and she said it straight up. She’d been downright pissy with Lady, told it like it was—that it was ‘not great meeting you!’ if she didn’t like someone, she wasn’t going to pretend she did. And…

              And she- she was- “You’re my best friend too,” Sera said, “the best friend I’ve ever had." She wasn't sure about love yet, she didn't have much experience with it. But if she absolutely  _had_  to make an educated guess based on what little she did know...yeah. She was pretty sure she loved Ellie too.

              They ended up walking a few blocks up and back, there was this little bakery cafe they stopped in at and Sera got them some warm mugs of hot cocoa they sipped at inside for a little while, recovering from the cold before they headed back to the Rainier home. They weren’t the only ones heading that way.

              “Girls, hello!” Maggie greeted, she was arm in arm with Cyril, Professor Farkus on her other side carrying an armload of books. “Oh, you took Samson for a little walk, yeah? Good job sweethearts, I’m so glad to see you! Oh honey, that looks so pretty on you-” Maggie complimented, reaching out to touch the scarf around Sera’s neck.

              Oh frig, she could feel her ears burning red, “E-Ellie s-said it’d be okay to borrow, sor-“

              “Oh honey of course, you don’t have a hat and scarf from what I saw last night, right? Does the hat fit you well enough dear? Well, I think they’re very fitting, you look just beautiful,” Maggie said, “why don’t you just go ahead and keep these? I have others.”

              “R-really?”

              “Of course,” Maggie nodded.

              “How was your day little loves?” Cyril asked as he let Maggie go on ahead without him to get the door, he came and gave Samson a few pets on the head before crouching to be level with Ellie, “How we feeling?”

              “Soooo much better!” Ellie enthused, “Our day was great! Sera was the best—she stayed with me, she read me my book, and we took a nap, and Papi made her lunch—and then she made me lunch! Chicken soup, it was so so good! And then she went with me to take Sammy on a walk and we had hot chocolate!”

              “T-Thom helped me make Ellie’s lunch,” Sera corrected, “Er, more like I helped him? Never been allowed to cook before so he showed me some stuff.”

              Cyril smiled, brushing Sera’s hair back. “I’m sure you were a great help, button. I had class to get to this morning, but I don’t work until the afternoon tomorrow—if you’d like, you can help me whip up breakfast.”

              “S-sure thing, thanks.”

              “No problem honey, so you had a good day too?” he checked.

              “Yeah, it was great, just like Ink said. I should um, I promised Thom I’d tell him when we got back safe.”

              “Thanks for keeping him in the loop,” he commended, “Come on bug,” he said, scooping up Ellie as he rose to his feet, “I wanna take a listen to your lungs—you had to take any more medicine today? Good. We’ll still do a breathing treatment tonight before bed—I know it can get boring, but we’ll read all your favorites to pass the time, alright?”

              “Okay, gracias papa!”

              Thom got up for good since everyone was back, lumbered out of bed when Sera woke him to let him know she and Ellie were back safe,

              “Thanks honey,” he said, patting her on the shoulder dropping a kiss to the side of her head, “Did you have fun?”

              Sera nodded. “I-I got Ink and me some hot chocolate? Here’s what’s left over.”

              “You’re still going out with mom later, right? Go ahead and keep it, you should always have a little something on you in case of emergencies. You’ll be working soon enough so we didn’t think allowance was necessary in the long run, but Ellie girl gets just about the same, so, in the meantime, consider this your allowance.”

              “Al-alright. I’ll um, I’ll pay you back as soon as I can-“

              “We hardly expect Ellie to pay us back on her allowance in the future,” Thom refuted, “same applies to you, don’t sweat it.”

              Everyone was seated around the dining room table, sounded like they were catching up on the adults days, how they’d gone.

              “Papi!” Ellie greeted cheerily once she saw the man was up, “Did you sleep good?”

              “I did, how’re you feeling sweetheart? Sera said you had fun on your walk.”

              “We did, I showed Sera around and we got hot chocolate, it was the best! Papa says I can go to school tomorrow if I promise to do a breathing treatment before bed and sleep really extra good tonight!”

              “I’m glad to hear that baby girl,” Thom said, he did sound relieved, he dropped a kiss to Ellie’s hair before kissing Cyril in greeting, “How was school today love? Your test go well?”

              “Not really,” Cyril sighed disappointed…and then he grinned, “It went great. Perfect score.”

              Thom thwacked the man against the chest with the back of his hand for scaring him, “That’s incredible, I’m so proud of you!” he offered, pressing a kiss to his forehead, “You know we uh…we could celebrate if you want,” he winked and then, “Mom’s taking Sera out in a bit, dinner, shopping. David, you think you could…”

              “Ahh, mija, light of my life,” Farkus said, getting the girl’s attention, “would you do me the distinct honor of going out for cupcakes tonight after dinner?”

              “I would!” Ellie readily agreed. “You can come with us next time, Ser’, we go out for dessert lots! Papa and Papi take me sometimes, and usually abuelita comes with abuelo and me!”

              ...they go out for dessert 'lots' huh? Well damn. Kinda gross but uh…good for them Sera supposed.

              “Sera, sweetheart,” Maggie spoke up, “I’m going to freshen up real quick and then we’ll be on our way if you’re feeling up to it?”

              “If you still want, I um…I mean I have clothes, and I- I mean I can sleep on the couch so Ink can have her own bed, I don’t need-“

              “Sera, I like sharing with you!” Ellie objected.

              “You do?”

              “Uh-huh! It’s fun and I like not sleeping by myself!”

              “Me too,” Sera replied, it was nice, comforting.

              “Well…” Maggie said, “if neither of you opposes sharing, I suppose we can put off furniture shopping for now. But if you change your minds, do let us know.”

              Oh, that was a relief, Sera wasn’t sure exactly how much a bed would have cost, but Lady was always changing out the furniture, just hundreds and hundreds in gold to keep up with every last trend. She didn’t want them…they were already doing so much for her.

              “That clears up our time to be devoted to the best form of shopping—clothes! Your dresses are pretty dear, but they aren’t appropriate for this weather and you’d only packed for a little trip away.”

              Sera nodded. She was…she was gonna pay them back somehow. They were doing too much, way way way too much for her, but she  _needed_ a lot of what they were doing for her and she didn’t want to press her luck, kicking up an argument over it.

              Maggie went into her bedroom for a minute, and came back armed with her purse, face clean, like she’d washed it though she reapplied her lipstick in the mirror by the door, “Alright, you boys have fun, take care of our baby girl, we’ll try not to be out too late,” she said, winking in conspiracy with Sera before going to Inky and pressing a kiss to her cheek, “Mwah! You be good for your fathers and Abuelo, mija, alright?”

              “I will! Have fun with my Sera! Be safe, te amo siempre!”

              “Te amo siempre baby,” Maggie wished her, kissing the Professor goodbye before taking Sera’s arm, “Shall we?” Sera nodded, and off they went, into the afternoon light.

              She was nervous, it sort of felt like she wouldn’t even begin to know what to say without Ellie around—which was stupid! She’d talked to all the adults on her own last night, and a bit this morning, but…Ellie’d been just in the next room, sort of gave her a buffer to fall back on if she’d needed it. And it felt kind of weird, going off without her, but having her grandmother taking her out for shopping, to eat. But the girl hadn’t seemed jealous or anything, still. She felt bad, like she was doing something she shouldn’t be. She didn’t even know the first thing to say to the woman, what were they supposed to talk about?

              “Te amo siempre?” she asked, Ellie’d said it to the Professor the day they met.

              “Oh, that’s something David started with her—‘I love you forever’—when we…when we first started dating, Ellie got attached so quickly and Thom and Cyril loved him and I…I had a lot of hangups. I got scared, and I panicked and did what I do best—mess things up. Or very nearly did. I broke things off with him. Right in the middle of dinner, it just popped out of my mouth ‘I don’t see this going anywhere, and I think we should break up’. Ellie was heartbroken…so was he…so was I, really, I just…I’d gotten overwhelmed. I’d made so many mistakes with men, and it cost me and my family so much. I was a horrible mother because of the choices I made in that regard, and I was petrified that if I started down that path again, even with someone as wonderful as David, I’d make the same mistakes again. Ellie got so upset she ran right out of the house, and David followed. I found them on the stoop, hugging and he promised her that no matter what happened in the future with me, even if they didn’t get to see each other very much, he would love her forever.”

              “How…how’d you end up back together?”

              “In a similar fashion to how we broke up,” Maggie chuckled, “Just ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking, can we please have a word?’. I…looked at them and realized the mistakes of my past involved men who didn’t care about me, especially not my children.” Child _ren?_  “And here he was, he’d clearly- I’d hurt and embarrassed him—I mean I’d just dumped him in front of my family. But he put Ellie first, comforted her and took care of her, and I realized that was all the difference. He’d never lead me to abandon my family—what was more, he’d hold me accountable, I can’t do any of the things I once ruined my life with because he’d never stand for it, would do everything he could to keep me on the straight and narrow.”

              “How did you know the Professor was interested?” Sera asked.

              “I got the hint pretty early on. He took an active interest in me, always making excuses to come around, invite me to lunch, compare notes on students we shared. Always wanted to make sure me and my family were well. It took time and a little convincing from Ellie and Thom for me to get back into the dating scene again,” she hugged Sera’s arm a little tighter, just a comforting squeeze as she questioned, “Why do you ask?”

              Frick, blushing, warm cheeks, warm ears, “I uh…I was kind of seeing someone behind Lady’s back. This girl I met when uhh…she let me take walks and I dunno, I’m not sure if she likes me or if she’s just having fun or considers me a friend.” Though…Mack never really went out of her way to see her, they only met up when they’d run into each other, Sera’d walk different route depending on where she thought the girl would be-

              Sera liked her. She went out of her way to see the other girl, and she was always the one checking up on her. Mack didn’t do any of the things Maggie listed. There was one time even, she convinced Sera to sneak out and meet her somewhere and completely blew Sera off. Cook ratted her out to Lady and…yeah, that’d been one of the worse times. She’d been laid up for a week after that and the next time she saw the Human girl she didn’t even ask where she’d been, and when Sera asked why she hadn’t met her, she just laughed and…and she apologized but she said she’d been invited to a party with this other girl and-

              Yeah, Sera was kind of dumb, wasn’t she?

              “Pretty stupid to think she’d be interested,” Sera supposed out loud.

              “Why in the world would that be stupid? Oh honey, I’m sorry if you’ve got an unrequited crush, but sweetheart, the world is full of people. You’re so young, you’ve got your whole brilliant life ahead of you—you’ll have lots of interest coming your way, a girl like you? You’re beautiful and intelligent and accomplished. Sera, you’ll be starting at  _the_ University of Markham at the age of _fifteen_. Be safe with your body and your heart my girl, you’ll be alright.”

              She kind of doubted that, but Maggie was nice.

              “Thanks.”

              “Alright, so, I don’t know about you, but I’m peckish—why don’t we get something warm to drink and something to snack on before we get into shopping.”

              They got paper cups of hot coffee and doughnuts with sprinkle covered pink icing, one for each of them, though it wasn’t until she’d eaten all of hers and Maggie asked her to help finish the one she’d taken only a bite of, that she realized it was the older woman just…making sure she got something else to eat after the way Lady’d had her starving.

              “I don’t know if Thom remembered to tell you,” Maggie said as they made their way further uptown, an area full to bursting with shops of all sorts, “but he and some of the other guards saw to it Lady Emmauld left Markham early this morning. Your protection order was approved by a judge friend of mine—if she does try to contact you sweetheart, please, let one of us know and we’ll handle it. You’re safe here. Oh!” she dug into her coat pocket and handed Sera a key, “Here, I had a copy of the house key made for you, that way you can come and go as you please without risking getting locked out—always lock up when you leave, if you loose your key be certain to tell someone as soon as possible and we’ll get it sorted. We didn’t cover this earlier since Thom was home, but if you are ever home alone, never answer the door to anyone, not without one of the adults around. Just a safety thing,” she said, “Usually between the four of us, someone is always around. Hmm…key, protection order…oh, your emancipation paperwork is all taken care of—in the coming months we’ll submit your proofs of housing and employment, and updates on how well you’re caring for yourself outside Lady Emmauld’s support. I got your records sent over from your previous Healer…and I hope you don’t mind but I’ve reported them to the Free Marches Healing Association, hopefully her license will be revoked. She had clear documentation that showed patterns of abuse, was actively keeping tack of your weight for Lady Emmauld-“ Maggie took in a breath and slowly blew it out, “that was abhorrent. I promise you; we’ll get you set up with someone proper here—who will be monitoring how well you’re regaining a healthy weight. My goodness girl, you’re so tall, you’ve hardly got anything on you  _to_  lose, you have to be freezing.” Huh, yeah, she was cold a lot. “But we’ll get that sorted—a few weeks of good meals, you’ll be right as rain. If you’re comfortable, I have a few names I’d run by you and then I’d set up an appointment for you for sometime this week.”

              “Thanks.”

              “David says you can start working in his office just before midterms, does that sound good to you?”

              Really? “Yeah, yeah that sounds amazing.”

              “Excellent, two of his assistants graduate at the end of this semester and David recommended they focus on the final push but he’s been out of his mind trying to find replacement—Ellie said she introduced you to Leo? He’s in his first year, you’ll be working with him.”

              Right, nice bloke that offered to bribe Lady with tea. He seemed a decent sort. “Cool, he seems nice.”

              “There’s also…you don’t start school again until the Fall, we understand if you’d like to focus on adjusting to recent circumstance, take some time off, get into the swing of things with work, but if you ever want tutoring in the meantime to keep up with studying, we have friends and associates that we could set you up with—Ellie had tutors until she was caught up to grade level and could go to school with children her own age. And you’re welcome to attend any of David’s lectures. Mine as well, but accounting might not pique your interests.” Well…Sera didn’t know the first thing about handling money, so, she might just take her up on that.

              Sera blew out a sigh, “I don’t even know where to begin repaying you guys. You’re doing so much for me and I feel like all I’m doing is taking.”

              “On the contrary—those assistants would be leaving whether you were here or not, you’ll be helping David tremendously by stepping in and replacing them. And Ellie just adores you, you’re so sweet to her, and Maker, we- we would have sent her to school today if you hadn’t said something about her breathing. We couldn’t hear it, and Ellie…knows she should ask for help and let us know when she’s feeling poorly, but she’s still working to shake the habit of fending for herself, she feels badly coming to us, and too there’s a level of—she doesn’t like missing school, so if she  _can_ go, she wants to, even if that means suffering for it later.”

              “Yeah well, I got freak ears, they might as well do some good.”

              “Sera Estella!” Maggie reprimanded, “Your ears are just the way the Maker made them—perfect, just like you. Lady Emmauld clearly had some prejudice against your being an Elf, but honey, you’re no less normal than any Human, or anyone else for that matter. And who says Human is the norm? For all we know, Elves were here first and we're some aberration that happened over time. Though there is strong evidence that it was Dwarven society that woke the world- and regardless, you can hardly help you were born an Elf, neither is there anything  wrong with being one. We don’t tolerate racism in our household—especially not directed at people  _in_  our household,” she smiled as she pressed her lips to Sera’s temple, before firmly intoning, “so I’ll have to ask that you not say such things about yourself again, young lady.”

              “I-I uh, I won’t. Sorry.”

              “You don’t have to be sorry, sweetheart. Just be happy with who you are—it doesn’t sound like you always are, so, we’ll just have to work on that.”

              “You just made up Estella on the spot to ‘middle name’ me?” Sera snorted, kind of impressed. That seemed very um, mom-ish.

              “…no, honey Estella  _is_ your middle name. It’s in your medical records.”

              Wait, frig, really? “Huh. Didn’t know it,” she shrugged.

              “Oh. Well, I think it’s fitting. It’s Antivan. I asked Ellie about it when I got home from work today, she says it means ‘like a star’. I can see that—your mother must have taken one look at your sweet little face, saw those beautiful eyes of yours and been inspired,” Maggie insisted, kissing Sera on the cheek. Maker, she’d gone from the only contact she had with others being through a cane or bruising grip on her forearm, scratchy measuring tape against her skin, to a nonstop barrage of hugs and kisses and warm hands that wouldn’t hurt her. Felt ruddy weird accepting the affection, but there was something about it, at every turn it was just satisfying, like she’d been starved for it—like going without food so long you don’t realize you’re hungry until your next meal is just in reach.

              Sera wasn’t really sure what to do with that.

              She wasn’t sure what to do with a lot of things. It wasn’t until Maggie’d drug her all around some Clarice woman’s shop, looking at different clothing that was on display and a whole book of designs and fabric swatches, and all that noise, that she realized  _she_ was going to be picking anything out.

              “B-but you’re p-paying and I um, I don’t know- I’m not very good at picking out clothes,” Sera said.

              “I’m paying, because as far as I know it’s illegal to steal—other than that, I’m not concerned whatsoever. You’ll be the one wearing them, sweetheart, try a few things on and see how they feel, whatever you like, that’s what we’ll get.”

              “…sooo…I um…I don’t have to get dresses or whatever if I don’t want?”

              “Of course not sweet girl. Whatever makes you happy and comfortable, go with it.”

              She was pretty glad they’d stopped to get something before they started shopping because…Thom’s advice had really helped, about having opinions ‘n pish, but she had to think and think and think to actually work around to her own opinions on things—not Lady’s, not dumb expectations she’d been being poked and prodded to meet. And she had to catch herself trying to think what Maggie or Ellie or anyone else might like if she picked it, that was just…he’d been right, she  _was_ trying to appease these new people in her life. Was scared the littlest thing might ruin whatever this was she had going with them.

              But…she didn’t like dresses. They were dumb—there was too many stupid rules to wearing them, and you couldn’t do much in them and it was just- dumb! So, pants and thick woolen leggings and the like, things she wouldn’t have to worry about in lab because they were too loose or anything. And different kinds of tunics, blouses. Lots of warm flannel that just, frick, they were so toasty and she liked the patterns and colors. A few jackets, suitish for like, if she had an interview or had to dress up for a work thing, or for Chantry. Maggie even found some warm flannel sleep pants and some different sleep shirts she could wear instead of her cold, thin,  _dumb_ billowy nightgowns. And so many socks! And a few more hats and scarves, and a bigger coat she could grow into—tall wise and weight wise. They’d gotten everything a few sizes up and that Clarice woman, she took them into the back of her shop measured Sera, and used this sewing machine to cinch up some of the legs and arms and backs of things so they’d fit right, but could be let back out later once she was big enough. Few pairs of shoes—some slippers for around the house and shoes that were fine for scuffing up or getting spilt on in lab that’d protect her toes. Nice shoes for fancier things, these shiny black flats. Maggie insisted she go ahead and change if she wanted, she'd be so much warmer. So, red and grey flannel, warm black leggings, feet in some brand spanking new socks tucked into grey boots. They um, had a little bit of height to them, Lady certainly wouldn't approve, it was bad enough Sera was a knife- er...Elfy. Being so tall wasn't going to 'send suitors her way'. Not that she wanted that, at least, not the sort of suitors Lady'd had in mind.

              Maggie was at the counter, chatting up that Clarice lady, already taken care of paying for her new duds. “Oh Sera,” she breathed, smiling wide.

              “Mon cherie!” Clarice chirped, clapping her hands together, “Oh, you look splendid! Everything fits you well, oui?”

              “Everything fits great,” Sera assured, “thanks.”

              “Excellent—you look wonderful, hun!” Maggie enthused, holding out a hand to her, “Are you ready? Personal care next, I think, you can pick out whatever you need. Here, bundle up my dear—oh! What’ll it be for dinner? There’s a great deal of variety—Ferelden, homemade Marcher fare, Tevene, Nevarran—there’s even a place Ellie assures us makes authentic Antivan.”

              Huh. Sera couldn’t vouch for authenticity, but the food was pretty boss. Picked up some necessities on the way, she liked this shampoo that smelled like cinnamon, kind of different from what Inky uses, whatever she'd used last night was nice but it left Sera's hair feeling heavy, not oily or anything just like it'd been a bit too much than what her hair needed, nice lotion and a few bars of soap. But actual food was even better than pish that smelled like food. Maker, she and Maggie pigged out big time—they went to this nice little Antivan restaurant, it was cozy, everything bright and cheery, and everyone that waited on them was nice. They just sat and…and talked. Maggie asking question after question—what was Sera’s favorite subject? What did she think she’d like to do with her education? That was a tough one, she wasn’t sure…Maker, she’d just wanted to go to school to get away from Lady, but now that she was in? Huh…she really did like chemistry, there was all kinds of cool stuff you can do in the field. And it was just…no one ever took an interest in Sera’s interests before, cared about things like if she liked something or was passionate about something, any time she tried talking about things like that, Lady was always ready to ridicule her.

              They stopped in at a Tevene place for dessert on the way back, they got gelato, chocolate for Maggie and Sera got some that tasted like sourish green grapes, it was just yum! And while they ate apparently Maggie put in an order for pizza?

              “It’ll be tucked away in the cold chest over night, I can leave you instructions for reheating it tomorrow for lunch,  _but_  I’d like to introduce you to the wonders of youth and needing to put on weight—cold pizza and just how much you can get away with eating,” Maggie conspired giddily, carrying the pizza box with one side resting against her hip, her hand on the other as they made the walk back, er, h-home, Sera guessed it was.

              Maker it was late when they finally made it back in, but that was probably good—Ellie and Farkus were already back from dessert, so, the coast was clear as far as uhh…celebrating Cyril’s grades went. Their bed was still plenty full though, they went looking for everyone since the common area was empty, put their bags down and tucked the pizza away. Maggie went ahead to Thom’s room where all the Rainier household could be accounted for. Thom and Cyril looked like they’d taken baths or something, both of them had mops of wet hair on their heads, everyone was in their sleep clothes, even Farkus—the three men were laying in Cyril and Thom’s bed with Ellie in their midst, she was holding Russel in one arm and was using the other to hold a warm, steaming wet rag to over her mouth and nose, smelled like Embrium and Elf Root. Samson was laying with his head in Ellie’s lap. Farkus was holding a storybook in hand, steadily reading along though he smiled when Maggie came in, leading Sera along,

              “Sera!” Ellie greeted cheerfully, bouncing a bit on the bed. Thom’s arm was around her shoulders and he hugged her a little more tightly,

              “Shh Ellie-girl, no talking, only breathing—Sera’ll still be here when you’re done,” Thom assured her and she nodded.

              “Ahh, hello my love, did you have a pleasant evening with miss Sera?” Farkus asked as Maggie came to where he was laying near the edge of the bed and kissed him on the cheek.

              “We had the most marvelous time," Maggie assured, crawling into bed alongside him and sighing contentedly as she settled in against his chest.

              “What’d you get, button-nose?” Cyril asked as he sat up, rubbing at his face tiredly, “Ohh, honey, you look great!”

              “Give us a spin girl,” Thom called, smiling and Sera turned about for them, Ellie was smiling she was pretty sure, and she let go of Russel so she could hoist her hand over head with a thumbs-up.  “Very nice, did you have fun?”

              Sera nodded, “Yeah it was really nice.”

              “It’s very befitting my dear,” Professor offered sincerely.

              “Well hun we’re gonna still be at this for a while—you want the bath to yourself you’re more than free to clean up, get comfortable,” Thom said, “You can join us if you’d like.”

              She…she would. Took a nice bath, put on clean pajamas and when she joined them, Ellie and Cyril scooted apart a ways, and she patted the space between them for Sera to climb in, Inky curling up against her the moment she was situated, and they listened to the Professor read until…

              Huh. Until they fell asleep, she supposed. She didn’t remember leaving the Rainier men’s room, the next thing she knew she was tucked in Ellie’s bed, the girl sleeping alongside her, and Cyril was quietly waking her up,

              “You wanna help me with breakfast?”

              Oh yeah, learning new cooking things. Cool! “Yeah, sure thing.”

              And that…became a regular thing. Sera’d wake up, help out with breakfast, usually with Cyril, sometimes Thom. She got it down to where she’d wake up just before Thom got home from his shift—Maggie taught her coffee, how to brew it up proper all on her own—so she’d get a kettle of it made up and have a cup waiting with warm toast for when he got in, butter and strawberry jam. The guy worked like a dog, everyone else too—if Sera could get up and make their days a little bit easier, she was down. She could get breakfast prep done, and they all worked together to cook, and the guy could sit back and enjoy the morning, get to be with his family and spend some time with them before they were all off, or just wish them good days and head straight to bed if he was real exhausted. And it was great once everyone was up, helping and eating with one another, saying good morning, being…being happy to see each other again. Ellie always acted like it was some exciting surprise she loved to wake up to, Sera being there in the mornings, she’d always get this big hug, kiss to the cheek. And then everyone would be off to work or school. She got to read and Sammy kept her company—Thom, the guy couldn’t ever just lay down and sleep a solid eight hours, he’d always wake up at least once just to check on her and make sure she was alright, offer to make her lunch. He actually ate some with her, the day after the shopping spree—cold. pizza. was. the. best.—he saw her going to town on some and gave in when she told him he should try it. Apparently it was a guilty pleasure—Cyril didn’t want him getting to much ‘sodium’ or something, to watch his blood pressure. So it was a fun bit of conspiracy between them, wolfing down every last bite of pizza. And Sera got to go with him when he woke up for taking Samson on a walk to go pick Ellie up from school—she’d come running out of the gate every afternoon, thrilled and breathless and chattering a mile a minute, asking about Sera’s day, telling her all about hers.

              Though uh, Sera thought Thom’s blood pressure might have went through the roof when the girl informed them,

              “Ciel tried to kiss me today!”

              “He  _what?!”_  Thom asked, stopping them in their tracks like he meant to turn back around and go give the boy a piece of his mind before he left the schoolyard. "When?!"

              “At recess! But my m- um, I thought he was about to, so I stopped him.”

              “What did you do?”

              “Pushed him right into the dirt the way you and papa taught me!” Oh, yeah, the adults had asked Sera if she’d be interested in learning a little self defense, for her own security and their peace of mind. She…might take them up on it. It’d make her feel a little better, actually, if she knew she could do something, protect herself if anyone tried to hurt her again…or Ellie. Friggin, she didn’t know piss about fighting but she’d fight a man if they tried to hurt Inky! “And I told him if he wanted to kiss me, he’s gotta ask! My Maggie taught me about consent—and it isn’t nice to try and kiss me without asking first, ‘cause what if I don’t want to kiss him? I never kissed anyone before.”

              “Really Ink?” Sera asked drily, giggling a bit. She was one of the kissiest kids she’d ever met…of course she hadn’t met that many kids, but still.

              “I mean like kiss kissing!” Ellie laughed.

              “Do you want to kiss-kiss ‘im Inky?” Sera wondered and the girl blushed.

               _“Noooooo!_  Ciel’s my best friend but I dunno, I don’t like him in a different way than that.”

              “Good. I mean—it’d be good either way,” Thom amended. Then, tentatively, “is there anyone you do like that way?”

              Oh frig, Inky got real shy, kind of squirmy, wriggling between them and ducking her head, she mumbled something Thom couldn’t hear, but while the man asked “Who?” Sera screeched,

              “Miss Hamilton?!” Who in her class did she call ‘miss’?!

              Oh, a teacher, duh. Miss Hamilton was a student teacher, finishin’ up her degree from Markham. And she helped out in Ink’s art class.

              “Oh!” Thom shot out, “Uhhh…that’s sweet honey, but Miss Hamilton’s just a bit too old for you.”

              Ellie sighed, “I know, but papi—she’s so  _nice!_  She’s just the sweetest, she’s always patient with everyone and teaches us nice, she isn’t mean even when some of the kids are, and she’s so funny! And she’s so  _pretty!”_

              Thom looked more like he might die of suppressing his laughter before he stroked out on them, they kept on the trail home as he asked, “Sorry baby girl, is there anyone your own age you like?”

              “Russel,” she offered back with certainty.

              Thom smiled, relieved, “Just good ol' Russel-bear, huh?”

              “Oh!” Ellie chirped, “No—Russel Harvis! He’s in my class!"

              ..."K-kid in your class, huh?"

              "Uh-huh! He’s always super happy, and he says the funniest things! He always tells me jokes when I’m sad or frustrated, and he always helps me when I fall down at recess! Ciel helps too, but he’s always really mean to Russel when he does? I don’t like it.”

              “That’s sweet honey,” Thom said, “You get sad and frustrated at school a lot?”

              “Not a lot! Well, not frustrated a lot, but sometimes you know? School is hard! I used to get sad every day when I first started school, just ‘cause I…I really really love school, but I really love you and Papa and my Maggie! So I miss you when I'm gone. I think it kind of embarrassed Ciel because he was my only friend when I first started school, no one else knew me and it isn’t cool to be friends with a cry baby—but my…second day of school? Russel came up to me and got me to laugh, 'Knock-knock, who's there? Boo! Boo who? Awe, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry!' it was funny 'cause I was already crying and it made me laugh about it! Then he gave me a hankie, and we talked, and when he found out I’d never ever been to school before, he said that was normal—he cried every single day his first month of school when he was just little! So it made sense that my first time doing school, I’d have a hard time being away from my family.”

              “You never said you were getting upset at school, Ellie-girl.”

              “I didn’t want you to think I couldn’t be a big girl! And I don’t get sad like that anymore, not too much anyway. I was sad I had to leave Sera all by herself my first day back.”

              Oh wait, frick, seriously? “Inky sweets, there’s nothing to be sad about—Sammy’s with me, and Thom. I um…I miss you too, but I’m not sad or lonely or anything. So don’t worry about it, alright? Besides, I start work on Monday—I’ll walk with your going to school posse and everything, yeah?”

              “That’ll be fun! You can meet Russel!”

              Sera leaned down a bit as she squeezed Ellie’s hand, offering quietly, “Maybe tell me which one’s Miss Hamilton too, huh?” Ellie giggled, nodding. What? She wanted a peek at Ink’s taste in people.

              Poor Thom though—he came home most mornings off of shifts where he had to actually chase down people, fight, and face who knows what, going on in this city at night time, and he looked more haunted as they got home from picking Ellie up. He flopped down on the couch first thing, rested his eyes, arm laying over them as he got his power nap on she guessed. Ellie went into the bedroom—she had this little desk she could work at and she went to do her homework. She left the bedroom door open and Sera would usually sit in the armchair closest by, reading and listening for if Inky needed any help. Cyril got home from work not too long after, found Thom…basically recovering on the couch.

              “Hard day, love?” Cyril wondered, tapping his husband’s foot as he stood at the end of the couch.

              Thom sighed. “Our girl has a crush.”

              “Which one?” What did he mean which one?

              “Littler one,” though, "Wait,"  Thom peeked up at Sera, “You got any crushes?” Oh frick! Her?

              Like a  _little_  one on hot chocolate girl. This girl around Sera’s age that worked at the place she and Inky got hot chocolate from. But uh, nothing they needed to worry about, Sera didn’t think hot chocolate girl was gonna be a thing, let alone be someone they needed to be worried about. “Nah, we’re good.”

              “Ellie has a crush?” Cyril whispered, excitedly, seating himself down on the coffee table.

              “On a teacher—a lady teacher.”

              “Little too old for her, but whoo! Ohhh there is a Maker—we’re two for two, no future pregnancy scares.”

              Thom snorted, “…and on Russel.”

              “Sweetheart, do we need to have a lesson between the anatomical differences between a man and a stuffed bear? I think we're safe.”

              “Boy in her class—named Russel.”

              “Damn it, she talks about eating lunch, playing with Russel at school all the time, I just thought she meant like, in spirit or something, play pretend! Knew I liked the nug better—we never had issues like this with Mister Pinkie!" 

              “Is that my papa?” Ellie’s voice called from the bedroom before she came bounding out of it, climbing onto the coffee table to hug Cyril from behind, arms squeezing around his neck, “Papa! You’re home! How was your day?”

              “That depends—just who is this Human Russel and what are his intentions with you?” Cyril laughingly demanded to know, smiling as he pulled Ellie around to sit in his lap, tickling at her sides.

              “I don’t know a Human Russel. You mean Russel from school?”

              “Yeah love, he’s a person right?”

              “Well  _duh,_  of course he’s a person! He’s just not a Human person—Russel’s a Dwarf person!”

              Cyril’s eyes went wide in his head as he covered the girl’s ears, “If Ellie marries a Dwarf, we could have the world’s shortest grandbabies. I mean it could be a record.”

              Thom pointed at him, “You shut your mouth, we- we’re not having grandbabies!”

              Sera snorted, “Might not live to see grandbabies the way you’re stressin’,” she teased.

              Oh. Oh wait- oh frick! She- She hadn’t meant to- oh crap what if she just pissed him off-

              But Thom just laughed, Cyril too, “She’s got you there, love.”

              So…cool.

              Dinner was always the best, everyone coming together at the end of the day and talking and laughing, eating good food. Sera didn’t think she could hack it as a chef anytime soon, but um, everyone took the time to teach her different things, so she got to help. And Farkus always came home with a little something that might interest her—a newly published study, or another book, he let her have dibs on his subscription to newsletters the Universities of Orlais and Markham circulated,  and they always talked a bit of shop over dinner which was…nice. He knew a lot more than she did but he never made her feel stupid for not knowing something, or shot down any of her ideas about things right out the gate. And they always did something special on Sunday's, went out to eat some place nice. And they never criticized what Sera picked out to wear she was pretty sure as long as she liked what she was wearing, it was fine. Chantry days used to be the worst as far as Lady was concerned. It was almost like this twisted game she'd play, she'd never just pick Sera's clothing out for her, and anything Sera came out in was picked apart, even on weeks she tried wearing something that worked for Lady in the past it was never right when Sera picked it, and then she'd be sent back into her room to change into whatever Lady said. Then if they were late to Chantry, it was her fault, they'd walk in and Lady would make a big show about how embarrassed she was. But three Sundays came and went, and all she got was compliments, to sit next to Inky in service, and the third Sunday she got to pick where they ate dinner! Because she was gonna start work Monday! She was going to get to go to Markham University, like, be in the school and get a feel for the place before she started as a student, and have access to their libraries and help out with labs and- just! So much fun stuff she was pretty sure. Anyway, Dinners, Chantry days, so far they were the best.

              Though…there was a kind of weird day at Chantry.

              “Ugh,” Sera complained quietly as ruddy Tranquils and Mages were filed into the service. They usually sat in the back, out of the way, but once in a while they was expected to sing or something, stand in front of the congregation and hold a creepy-ass worship concert with their mix of lively and deadpan voices.

              Inky’d been scribblin’ in her Chantry program like usual, though she looked up to Sera, “You okay, Ser’?”

              Sera shook her head, “Yeah, just,” they was walkin’ right past them! Like! Mages! Three feet away! Yeah they was Tranquil…that…that meant they didn’t have magic anymore, right? She wasn’t real sure though it was still weirdy, and there was _actual Circle Mages_. Blaaaah, Sera took her program in hand and scratched out a little message to Ink so they weren’t overheard by any weirdy mages. _Mages on your right. Is this a regular thing?_ They didn’t have a Circle connected to their Chantry back where Lady and her went. Ansburg wasn’t too far from here though.

              Ellie didn’t write back just nodded, smilin’ “Yeah! Oh…” she looked…kind of excited, quickly taking up her pencil again and writing back _You’re all ‘ugh’ because you don’t like that the mages have been circled or made Tranquil?_

Ellie…Ellie blanched when Sera snorted. _Nooooo—ugh because mages! Magic is bad, Inky, it’s evil and scary. You don’t talk to them or anything, right?_ Oh…oh crap, Inky’d gone real pale, and Sera couldn’t hear her breathing, she’d just straight up _stopped_. Frick! She didn’t mean to scare her! _It’s okay though, just don’t go near them. Stay close to your papis. And me—I’ll keep you safe okay?_

              Inky nodded real slow, and crap! Air sort of smelled salty—she wasn’t crying, but there was tears hanging in her eyes, shite! She hadn’t meant to-

              “Um, papi?” Ellie asked quietly, “Is it okay if I go to the bathroom?”

              “Sure thing—Sera, you mind-“ Thom started.

              “I’m a big girl, I can go by myself. Please papi?”

              He looked at her for a beat, and Ciel leaned over in his seat, across Sera’s lap as he murmured, “Oh, Ellie, what is wrong mon ami?” rested his hand on Inky’s shoulder.

              “I um,” Ellie kept her head down, crumbled up their note passing program in hand, sniffling as a few tears slipped down her cheeks, “I just don’t feel very good.”

              “You are feeling unwell?” Clarice checked, and when Ellie nodded, “Come, I am a mother—I will understand, let me at least walk you, cherie.”

              What like her tummy was upset or something? Oh crap, had Sera scared her bad enough she felt sick from it? Or was she like, getting sick-sick? Why didn’t she want Sera to go with her? She- she wouldn’t make Ink feel bad if she needed to throw up or something, she’d just hold her hair and try to help-

              Ellie didn’t come back for a long while. Like, the whole service. They didn’t see her again until it was letting out and they found her in the Chantry lobby with Ciel’s mom, the Orlesian woman was seated on one of the benches with Inky in her lap, sitting facing her, her head on the woman’s shoulder as she rubbed her back. She rose when they approached,

              “She’s asleep,” Clarice said, gingerly handing the girl off to Cyril who immediately crowded her, taking the girl in his arms and holding her close, turning to Thom so his husband would support Ellie’s back while Cyril freed one of his hands to feel at the girl’s forehead. “She went in for a moment and when I went to check on her she was crying, would not say what upset her so, though I suspect it had something to do with our guests today—it does so hurt her heart, people being separated from their families, and Tranquility sounds horrific even to me, and then they come here and get paraded around, like an exhibit for people to see. It was just a little much for her this time I think.”

              “Oh, poor baby, she’s got such a sweet heart,” Maggie breathed, looking apologetic, “I forgot this was the weekend they were performing, we usually have a little venting session about it, prepare her beforehand.”

              Sera felt like dirt. She didn’t friggin like no mages, but Inky…shite, yeah, Ellie was the sweetest, of friggin’ course it made her sad, she’d look at the situation and not see super scary terrifying people who need Circled, she’d just see people getting locked up and away from their families. There was a level Sera just wished they’d make all Mages Tranquil—what was the point of letting them slip up first? You just let people be in danger for no reason! But she got that it sounded kind of scary, gettin’ emotion-wiped and not being able to dream ever again. So, yeah, okay. No bad mouthin’ mages, or anyone really, she should’ve known better, Ink didn’t really seem to have a mean bone in her body.

              So she just didn’t say a word as they made the walk home, whippin’ up lunch. Sera ate in her and Ink’s room, just sort of picking at her food, waiting for Ellie to wake up while the adults excused themselves outside, sounded like they was all talkin’ but Sera couldn’t hear about what. Didn’t really care, all she really wanted to hear was,

              Ink’s breathin’ picked up a bit, and she yawned when she opened her eyes, sitting up and blinking as she put it together where she was, “Hey Ser’.”

              “Ellie,” Sera said, she’d been in the desk chair eating at the table but now she got up and sat on the edge of the bed, taking Inky’s hand in hers, “hey, I’m- I’m real sorry about before, I didn’t mean to um, be mean. I just…I don’t like mages is all, they scare me, you know? But I get it, it makes you sad when people are mean about other people so I promise, I’ll never say anything about them again, alright?”

              “It’s…it’s alright,” Ellie said, kinda hollowly, it just…it just didn’t sound right. “I understand. Mages are scary. Um…thanks for offering not to talk about them again that—that’s probably for the best? We just…won’t talk about it, mages or circles or m-magic. Not with me or with um…with papis or mi abuelos, okay? They don’t need to know you’re scared, I know, and I’ll…I’ll always protect you Sera, okay? So they don’t need to know,” she intoned firmly, bit more life in her voice then, so…cool, okay, that was progress.

              “Okay, I won’t say anything,” Sera promised. “I’m…I’m really sorry Inky. Are you…are you mad at me?”

              Looked like she might ruddy cry again, frick! But Ellie shook her head, “No I’m not mad at you Ser’. I love you lots. I’ll always love you, and be your best friend, even if you ever aren’t mine, okay?”

              Double frick, that was just- Sera nodded. “Okay. But don’t worry about it Inky—you’re my best friend too, and that’s never gonna change, honest.”

              “I hope not, but,” Ellie shrugged, “If it does, it won’t for me,” she promised, leaning forward and pressing a little kiss to Sera’s cheek. “You should eat your lunch—is that sandwiches?” Ellie let out a little happy gasp, “is it peanut butter and jelly?” Sera nodded, “is there peanut butter and jellies in the kitchen?”

              “Yeah Ink, couple still on the platter on the kitchen counter.”

              “Come help me reach!” Ellie invited, real giddy, bouncin’ out of bed and into the living room.

              But um…Sera wasn’t sure but she heard something a little weird. Later that night. She woke up could hear Thom shuffling around, getting ready to head out, but Inky, oh frick, she wasn’t in bed-

              “Baby girl?” Thom questioned, concerned, “What’re you doing up so late?”

              “I…wanna keep my,” wasn’t sure, it was like Ellie was skipping a word, “to myself. It’s okay, only you guys knowing. And it’s…not like everyone needs to know. Ciel doesn’t, James, Daniel—lots of people we love.”

              “Yeah, but they don’t liv-“

              “We’ve had people who did before they knew,” Ellie argued. “I just don’t think it’s important. And I wouldn’t want to put her in danger—if anyone asks around about it, you know?” Who in danger of what?

              “Alright honey. I get that. That’s…that’s very responsible. Good of you, sweetheart. As long as you’re sure…”

              “I’m sure.”

              “You change your mind…”

              “I’ll let you know.”

              “Okay baby. You’re alright? Okay,” Thom said, “you want tucked back in?”

              “Yes…but I don’t wanna wake Sera up—be safe, okay papi?”

              “Always am, Ellie-girl.”

              Inky came tiptoeing back into the room, Sera pretended to be asleep ‘stirring’ a bit when the littler girl slipped into bed and Sera snuggled right up to her, making sure the covers was on her good and comfy, “You okay, Inky?”

              “Uh-huh, everythings okay Ser’, have sweet dreams, okay?”

              So...aside from the one, Chantry days was usually the best time, second only to bedtime. Getting clean and comfortable and snuggling up with Ellie to read, relax, be warm and feel safe. Samson always slept at the foot of the bed, and she could always hear Cyril checking the locks before he went to bed. There wasn’t anything to worry about, she was safe, and it was so much easier to fall asleep, sleep well when you were actually looking forward to waking up in the morning.

              At least…at least she thought so. Kind of learned you could be a little too excited about what you were waking up to that you couldn’t go to sleep.

              “Sera, honey?”

              Oh crap! Sera startled, just about jumped up off the couch, she did drop the newsletter she had in her hand.

              “C-Cyril hey, sorry um. Did I wake you?” she worried.

              “Nah hun, I usually get up around this time, check the house, check in on you girls before I head back to bed. What’re you doing up so late, button? You’ve got work tomorrow…” he eyed the clock hanging in the kitchen, right next to the bathroom door, “today, really.”

              Sera shrugged. “Dunno, I just er, I couldn’t sleep, didn’t want to risk waking Inky or Sam, so I came out here to read for a bit. Is that alright?” maybe…maybe she wasn’t allowed out of Ellie’s room after bedtime?

              “Of course lovey, only problem I have is you’re having trouble sleeping,” the man shrugged, coming closer to rest his hand on her forehead, “You don’t feel warm or anything—just nerves keeping you up?” Sera nodded and he brushed her hair back, assuring, “That’s perfectly normal, you’ve got a big day tomorrow. You want something warm to drink babe? I’ll put the kettle on. Got this nice blend of sleepytime tea that might help.”

              It did, but it was more like having tea with Cyril was helpful. He got the fireplace going again since they were up and out to watch it, and he brought blankets from him and Thom’s bed, wrapped her up in a hug that left a warm knitted blanket around her when he went to mind the kettle. They chatted quietly as they sipped at their tea, Cyril sharing he’d had trouble sleeping too, when big changes were happening in his life—joining the military, moving in with Thom and everyone, starting his new job at the school, becoming a student again,

              “I don’t think I slept a wink before my first day going to classes,” he confessed. “You nervous about starting your new job, yeah? You wanna talk about it sweetheart? Sometimes that helps.”

              Sera shrugged. “I dunno, I’m just kind of nervous I’ll mess up? I don’t know the school very well, and it’s not like I know lots of people there, so that’s a little scary. I’m mostly just…” she worried at her lip a bit before admitting, “I’m scared I’m not gonna be any use, just mess everything up and make Farkus regret taking a chance on me. That all of this will have been for nothing.”

              “Oh, baby girl, come on—it wouldn’t have been for nothing. Even if you went in there and somehow managed to what? Chemistry? Blow up the school or something? We’d help you handle anything, worst case scenario this job doesn’t work out—there’s others. All you gotta do is hold down one to put your emancipation through, you have support here you don’t have to have something you could provide everything for yourself from, you could work in a café or shop, anywhere babe. Things happen, and when they do, you handle it. An ounce of prevention can be worth a pound of cure but when you’ve done everything you can, you just gotta let it rest. Otherwise, worrying about it—if nothing bad happens, you’ve made yourself experience something horrible that never even came to fruition, and if your absolute worst nightmare happens? You’re just living it twice babe. Have you prepared as much as you can?” Sera nodded, yeah, there wasn’t much else she could do other than wake up and get ready. “Then remind yourself of that and try to be in the moment. Right now you can’t go to work, school’s not even open. So, don’t let your mind go there. You’re here, and the best thing you can do, last bit of preparation? Get some good rest.”

              …that…that all made sense. And she did feel a lot better, talking things out, she’d been telling herself dumb scary stories about what could go wrong, but looking at the actual worst thing that could realistically happen? She…she’d be embarrassed if she messed up bad enough to lose this job, but yeah, she could handle it if she had to do something different. She actually had a little bit of experience now, knew how to clean and warm up food, make coffee—she could bus tables if she friggin had to just to stay out of Lady’s house. She finished up her tea, and Cyril took the cups to clean up, pressing a kiss to her forehead,

              “Sleep well honey, have sweet dreams.”

              “You too.”

              Fell out of routine a bit—Cyril let her sleep in. She woke up to Ellie kissing her cheek and telling her breakfast was ready before she bounced off the bed and went on ahead. Sera got dressed, red and black tartan trousers, white button up shirt, and one of the black suit jackets they’d gotten her for work. Maggie was right, she felt good about what she was wearing, liked it, and it helped, she felt more confident. Took a deep breath, and went to join the others for breakfast.

              Mistake. Big mistake. Not really but friggin- dumb! Embarrassing!

              But um. Kind of sweet.

              “Is that  _the_ Sera Emmauld?” Professor asked as he looked up from his newsletter, “As I live and breathe!”

              “Quick,” Thom said, “before you become a world-renowned scientist—can I have your autograph? Just so I can say ‘I knew her when’.”

              “Sign my text book!” Cyril joined in.

              “I asked her first!”

              “You guys are nuts,” Sera complained as she took a seat alongside Ellie.

              “But they’re right! You’re gonna be the best!” the girl insisted, “You look so cool! Just like a grown up!”

              “Thanks Ink.”

              Maggie hugged her as she joined them, am arm around Sera’s neck, “You look great sweetheart. I didn’t think about this when we went out before, but you might need to bring things home, take things back into work and the like, so, for now you can have this if you like,” she said as she pulled back and handed her something, oh! A shiny black briefcase. “David got me a new one at the start of the new school year, so, feel free to keep this one if you like it, alright?”

              “Y-yeah, thanks Maggie. It’s really great,” friggin’ _perfect!_

              “I’m glad.  Eat up bug, ” Didn’t have to tell her twice.

              It was kind of fun, the change in routine, even though she kind of felt bad, leaving Thom by himself, well, him and Samson. Which was dumb, he was going to be asleep most of the time anyway, but still, she felt…she was going to miss him, which was dumb. Wasn’t it? Kind of got choked up when he hugged her goodbye, pulling her into his chest, patting the back of her head as he promised her day was going to be great, and he’d want to hear all about it when she got home. Dumb!

              But it was fun getting to walk Inky to school with Maggie, Professor, and Cyril—Russel the Dwarf Person was a little friggin’ cutie! Ellie waved to him as they approached the gate to the schoolyard and called him over, he came running right up to her and yeah. Hugged her real big, the way Inky does hugs—he was definitely her type, sweet and rosy and he shook her papa’s hand and immediately landed the guy with a knock-knock joke he’d been saving for Ellie...or maybe he'd been saving it for when he met one of her papa's 'cause,

              "Knock-knock!" Russel said.

              "Who's there?" Cyril played along.

              "Mustache!"

              "Mustache who?"

              "I mustache you a question, but I'll shave it for later!" the little Dwarven boy giggled.

              Cyril offered up a laugh, grinning as he encouraged, "That was very good."

              "Thanks!"

              "My turn!" Ellie enthused.

              "Of course!" Russel said, grinning like mad as he looked to Ellie, "Knock knock!"

              "Who's there?" Inky asked all excited, bouncing in place.

              "A little old lady!"

              "A little old lady who?"

              Russel gasped, eyes wide as he said, "Wow, Ellie! All this time, I never knew you could yodel!"

              Lame, but Inky was giggling up a right little storm over it, and Russel was real blushy about it, looked proud of himself for having made her laugh and smile. Frig' they was cute! "Oh wow! You're Sera, right?" he asked then, "You're Ellie's new best friend! You get to work at the big kid school, right?"

              "Yeah," Sera said, "Today's my first day."

              "That's so cool! You look super smart, I'm sure you're going to do great! Good luck today! Oh! Ellie and me, we do prayer time together, we'll pray you have a super awesome first day!"

              "Uhh, thanks, I appreciate it," Sera said. Yeah, kid was a sweet one, he just better stay sweet with Inky.

              "Oh yay!" Ellie cheered, "Yeah, that'll be great! You wanna help me with my art project today, Russel? I have something special planned!"

              "Really?" Russel asked, excited over it, "Yeah! Of course, Ellie!"

              And uh…Miss Hamilton? Ellie insisted she liked her ‘cause of how nice she was, but—total smoke show. Sera’d never be able to talk to her in a million years, probably too old for her too, but damn if she wasn’t considering going around on her knees and claiming she was in Inky’s class. Pretty, pretty lady.

              They parted ways with Maggie on Park street—she was going to be working at her firm today since she didn’t have any classes, but she offered to hoof it on over to campus to have lunch with Sera if she wanted, Maggie and David usually met for lunch anyway but um, he usually came to her and they ate somewhere in town, Sera didn’t want to mess with their routine and she didn’t care for the idea of Maggie walking all on her own up to campus and back. Gosh she- if anything ever happened, to her, or Inky or Professor or Cyril or Thom she wasn’t sure what she’d do.

              “You’re gonna do great today honey,” Cyril said as they neared campus, “you need anything—anything at all, I’ll be around on patrol, if you can't find me, just ask anyone in security uniform and they'll get a hold of me. Knock ‘em dead.”

              “Probably shouldn’t be leaving people dead on my first day, but thanks,” Sera said, “Have a good one, um, be safe yeah?” it was just a college campus, but still.

              “Always am,” he said, clapping her on the shoulder before heading to armor up for his shift.

              “This way my dear,” Professor Farkus said as they walked arm in arm, “you remember where our building is? It’s okay, if you ever find yourself lost, there are plenty of directories and I’m certain anyone, staff or student, would be glad to point you in the right direction. If you need anything at all, my office is just down the hall from yours, and there’s listings by my office door of when and where my classes are scheduled if you need to hunt me down when you're not sitting in on the classes yourself.”

              “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

              “You’ll be just fine, keep your chin up—don’t let anyone talk down to you or belittle your ideas. You belong here—I wouldn’t have put through your acceptance if you didn’t. Remember that,” he intoned, patting her on the arm as they came up to the science department, and he let go of her so he could pull the door open. He led her to the office door, looking inside but there was no one there just yet, “I’m sure Mister Thompson will be along shortly, he’s usually early but I’m just a bit earlier I’m afraid,” he said, “Do you need anything at all?”

              To freaking puke. Excited, nervous and just—friggin kind of freaking out, what exactly did a TA even  _do?_ “I’m all good, thanks.”

              “Then have a wonderful first day.”

              “You too!” she offered back annnnnd yup, dumb, ‘you too?’ this definitely wasn’t the ruddy  _Professor’s_ first day.

              But he was gone, and all he’d done is smile and nod, so she guessed it was fine. Blah. She was bad at talking!

              It was fine though, just, she’d do better. She was just nervous. She took a deep breath and tried to figure out what to do exactly. Hung up her coat and left her briefcase by the door out of the way. Sunlight came in nice through the window but it was still kind of dark so she went ahead and got the wall lamps burning. Someone left a few dirty coffee mugs in the sink, so she rolled up her sleeves and scrubbed the ceramic clean under some hot water and dried them off, set them upside down on a towel just to finish off any wet left over. They had a cold chest which was pretty sweet, part of her brain said if she really needed to, she could bring lunch in and eat at her desk or something if she couldn’t find any place she felt comfortable at lunch, didn’t have anyone to really sit with. This was dumb, she was a kid, what was she even doing here-

              “Oh!” a voice sounded with surprise, “Hey, wow you’re here early. Guess we’re both early birds, huh? More worms for us then,” oh it was that Leo guy, he chuckled a bit at his own joke.

              “If we get worms for being early I’ll start coming in late, thanks,” that- mouth, friggin stop-

              He laughed at that though, “You know what? I feel that. Maybe more like ‘more coffee’ for us then? David said you’d be starting today, so I brought enough for both of us,” he said, shaking a large thermos he had in hand, he’d a paper bag in the other, “Have you eaten? I wasn’t sure if you’d be hungry or not, so I picked up bagels too.”

              Oh, “Thanks, you didn’t have to do that.”

              “It wasn’t a problem, just from the campus cafe, I stop in every morning for coffee and whatever they have around for breakfast on my way to the office. Today was bagels, I got blueberry, is that cool with you?”

              “Blueberry’s great. The uh, mugs are clean, I just washed ‘em,” she assured.

              Leo rolled his eyes, “Seriously? Those assholes—Friday was Tegan and Avery’s last day. I had a Healer’s appointment, they swore up and down they’d clean up. I promise I clean up after myself.”

              “No worries.”

              “I’m Leo—Ellie introduced us I think?”

              “Yeah, I remember—I'm Sera."

              "...Sera?"

              Oh yeah. "I know, kind of a lame change from Seda-“

              “I was just worried I’d heard Ellie and David wrong for weeks on end—come on, you’re not gonna get flack from the dude who went from ‘Leanne’ to Leo last fall.”

              “Leo’s a way cooler name.”

              “Sera is too,” he returned the compliment offering his fist to uh, bump with hers, so, cool.

              Leo lived on campus, which made sense. A Freshman, he started on as a TA after his first semester taking a few classes with Professor Farkus. They stood around for a bit, sipping at their coffee, bagels were banging, spread a little cream cheese and grape jelly Leo got out of the cold chest, friggin boss. He showed Sera which desk he cleaned out for her, and there was a little bathroom off the office he pointed out to her. He gave her a run down for what their days would be like—TA’s were just that, assistants of the teacher. They helped organize the Professor’s schedule, took messages for him, facilitate his office hours—like if there was a log of people coming ‘round to see him, they’d keep track of who came first, how long a wait it’d be for the others, try to answer any questions or handle any issues they could themselves if things got too crazy—and they help with grading, proctoring tests, running the occasional errand, that sort of thing. From time to time Farkus might have them run a lecture themselves—he’d supply all the materials, so it wasn’t like they’d be flying blind. Assist with labs and the like—there was a row of hooks along the wall by the door that Sera and Leo hung up their coats on, that had a few lab coats too, one was Leo’s, but the others were up for grabs.

              “One of us will wash them, Professor’s too—we had a system of switching off if that’s cool with you? I’ll do it next time to show you how its done.”

              “Yeah, that’d be just fine,” she nodded.

              “Cool!” he checked his watch, “Alright…well, his first lecture is in ten—you wanna head that way and sit in? You can stay here or look around or something, everything’s graded amazingly enough, I’m passing back stuff today.”

              “Can I help with passing things?” Sera asked.

              “Yeah, everything’s organized by row—I mean there’s no real seating assignments but everyone sort of claims a seat you know? Doesn’t really change up much, outside of the occasional awkward break up or something.”

              “Count me in.”

              “Alright, wow, an actual coworker who wants to co-work,” Leo smiled, opening his desk drawer and taking out a large stack of papers, “come on, I’ll show you to the lecture hall—he’s usually in the same one, except for Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, those are lab days.”

              He led her down the hall, Farkus’s door was open and he was still at his desk, jotting something down, though he looked up through his spectecals and waved to them as they passed, Sera offered a little wave back.

              She might offer someone a wave with less friggin fingers though—fucking-

              They were half way down the next corridor when this asshole knocked right into Leo—ruddy- right in the shoulder real hard, sent his papers flying, frick, was he hurt?

              “Watch were you’re going, idiot!” Sera shouted over her shoulder as she dropped to her knees, hastily gathering papers and checking, “Hey, you okay?”

              “Yup,” Leo grunted out, massaging his shoulder, “just my roommate saying hello.”

              “He- you know that guy? He just- why’d he-?”

              “He’s kind of a dick about um, everything,” he shrugged.

              “Just because…?” what, he’s a dude, just not your regular version? Leo nodded. “Maker must’ve misplaced your dick and it got turned into a whole-ass person by mistake.”

              Guy slapped his hand over his mouth, chortling into it for all of a few seconds before he threw his head back and laughed, “Maker. Oh man, that uh- that actually makes sense. I wasn’t paired up with a rando dick because the Maker hates me—He’s just trying to get the band back together.” He sighed, “this is gonna be fun, sorry—I can just pass them out, I know who everyone is.”

              “Hey, I’m sittin’ here with two perfectly good hands and my eyes and ears work just fine—gimme names and I’ll help.”

              Took less time than Sera’d worried it would, both of ‘em grabbing up papers and setting them straight. “You’re sure you’re alright?” Sera carefully ventured, and he nodded. “He er, he doesn’t beat up on you like that all the time, does he?”

              “Must be in a bad mood today is all—he’s mostly just rude. Doesn’t get too carried away otherwise.”

              Well friggin’. That still wasn’t okay!

              She was quiet about it as they headed to class, slipped in just a minute or so before Farkus himself walked in, greeted everyone cheerily how marvelous it was to be in a house of knowledge this fine Monday morning…mostly received a lot of groans. 8am’s were a brand of hell, Sera supposed.

              She helped pass out graded lab work and then she and Leo just sat off to the side of the lecture hall, but front row, which was kind of cool. Like already being in school a bit, she could listen…half tempted to take notes. She’d write a few things down later, maybe Farkus would feel like talking about some of it at dinner. They helped pass out some kind of research paper they were all supposed to read before their next lab, tomorrow afternoon, and then they collected everyone’s newest assignment.

              “Grading, yay!” Leo offered up sarcastically waving his stack of papers at Sera as they met at the front of the lecture hall as students began filing out the back.

              She smiled, “This is where the real fun begins, yeah?”

              “Sera, Leo—thank you for your assistance. How’s your day going so far?” Farkus wondered as he joined them.

              “Great,” Leo offered up when Sera…kind of left it open for him to decide? Maybe he’d want to take the opportunity to say something, about earlier, but he didn’t so, she just nodded. “Sera’s already been a big help.”

              “And it’s not even ten yet!” the Professor jovially noted, “I knew you’d do just fine, my dear. Keep up the good work you two.”

              They did. Work work work work work. Grading was a right bitch to get the hang of, but at least they were the ones with the answer keys, but,

              “This is wrong.”

              “What’s up?” Leo questioned as he left a finger on the question he was looking over so he didn’t lose his place when he looked across their desks to her.

              Frick, she might be wrong but, “Stoichiometry equation, number twelve? It asks if the equation is balanced, and you have to show your work to prove whether it is or not—the answer key says its balanced but it isn’t.”

              “Really?” Leo asked, “Crap, I’ve just been marking it wrong—let me look. You feel like taking a crack at it? We’ll both do the problem and see how it pans out,” he suggested, passing a sheet of scrap paper her way.

              “It works out something like…like this yeah?” Sera asked, passing over her work. Leo nodded, comparing it to his,

              “Yeah babe, we did it right. So did…” he looked at the name on the paper he was grading, number twelve with a big, apparently undeserved, X through it, “Nelson Pharrell.” He sighed, “Sorry Ser’ that was a really good catch—but it means…”

              “Back through all the one’s we’ve already graded, huh?” Sera supposed, “At least it’s only the one question.”

              “…”

              “We have to check all the questions, and the key to make sure it’s actually right. Don’t we.”

              “Ding ding ding ding ding! Winner! You know, Farkus is right—you  _are_ a genius.”

              Sera snorted. “Great help that is.”

              “No no, this’ll be good—you’ll be coming here next fall, a student yeah? Well Sera, let’s see how well you do working through all of these yourself.”

              “…at least I’m getting paid? Usually it’d be the other way around right?”

              “Ha! Take that capitalistic school system! They’re practically bleeding money!”

              So, they got to it. Friggin’ Sera hadn’t expected to have to do homework her first day…actually she wasn’t complaining, it was kind of nice, felt like her brain was stretching or something, kind of like you’d been sitting down for too long and now you got to get up and move around, do something challenging for the first time in a while.

              “You two still going at it? You’re due a break for lunch,” the Professor wondered as he poked his head in, “Oh my, what…what’s going on?”

              Desks might have been covered in scrap paper and answer sheets they were coming up with themselves—student papers in stacks off to the side…kind of looked like they were in the middle of an intense math-off.

              Leo cleared his throat, took the lead as he stood, “It’s not a big deal, sir, but one of the key’s answers was incorrect. It was probably only the one though, we’re just finishing up checking—you can take a look if you’d like, we could be wrong, but Sera and myself both worked on it. Number twelve?”

              Sera’s stomach kind of turned, nervous as the Professor took up one of the student’s work to look at the question in er, question. “And what does the key say?” he wondered.

              “Balanced, sir,” Sera said.

              The Professor blew out a sigh, “Oh, I’m terribly sorry you two, this was my mistake—thank you, this was an excellent catch, Leo.”

              “Sera’s catch actually, professor,” Leo corrected which…yeah, that was decent of him. Sera had a feeling lots of people would’ve taken the credit themselves. “I’d still be cheerily grading these all wrong honestly.”

              “You trust the key—as you  _should_  be able to do, I apologize, I promise to make it up to you two. Excellent work Sera,” Professor said, resting a hand on her shoulder and giving it a squeeze, “thank you, for speaking up.” Sera nodded. “You two make sure you get to lunch, okay? Grading will still be here, and I’ll be able to assist with it this afternoon.” He looked to Sera, “I’m getting ready to go pick up Maggie for a bite to eat, café near her office…”

              “Tell her I say ‘hi’, yeah?” Sera requested. She meant it, holy crap, she missed her. But she didn’t want to crash their lunch date, she was already all up in their lives at home.

              “Certainly,” he agreed, taking his leave.

              “Do you have any plans for lunch, Sera?” Leo wondered.

              “Not really—I mean I’ll eat, I’m…I’m just not entirely sure where to go, there’s maps right?”

              “Directories all over the place, but if you’d like, I’d be glad to have you join me.”

              “Really?” she checked, “yeah, sure, that’d be great.”

              She did finally get to see the dining hall, at least one of them. Leo led the way and when they got there, he handed her a tray and let her go first down the line, “Go ahead and get whatever you like—our lunches are covered.”

              Friggin’ sweet!

              “Oh man, Inky’d be jealous—tator tots,” Sera almost wondered if she could wrap some up to save and heat up later. Or would they be good cold, too?

              “Inky?”

              “Ellie.”

              “Oh, you’ve been hanging around that little cutie, have you?”

              Only every day for almost a month now, but she wasn’t sure if her living with the Professor and Maggie and them was common knowledge or not, wasn’t sure if it’d come off as weird. So, she just shrugged.

              They found a spot to sit and mostly focused on their food, though Leo did have a few questions—how did she like Markham? Did she have a set up on campus, or had she been able to find someplace nearby? Downtown was a bit of a walk, he looked at her like she was crazy when she said she was staying in a place for cheap there.

              “Damn, hun, I know you have to have a place to live and rents expensive closer to campus, but…crap. Really? That’s where Lady Emmauld has you set up? Don’t…” he sighed, “look, I know we don’t know each other super well, and I’m just some random guy but you’re- I mean Maker, you’re fourteen, right? And you’re not that big for someone so tall. If it wouldn’t freak you out for me to have your address, or maybe there's a storefront or something near by we can meat up at, let me walk you, okay? To and from work, so you’re not walking all by yourself, I mean there’s some rough people hanging around down there.”

              “…yeah, there’s this little Antivan always holding me up at hug point, wanting kisses n’pish. I’m um…” she looked around, just, kinda making sure no one was paying much attention to them. “Living with Lady Emmauld was uh…it was bad. Real bad. I ended up blabbing everything to Ellie and Maggie, they’re helping me get emancipated. Job…a place to live…”

              “That checks out,” he nodded. “I’m sorry you had such a bad experience Sera, that’s rough. I’m glad Professor Farkus is helping you out. That’s really cool. I’ve been to the Professors’ house for dinner before, but I suppose you don’t need anyone to walk you to work with the boss man with you? Sometimes we have to work days he won’t—doesn’t happen a lot, but if you've got no one to walk you, my offer still stands.”

              …he wasn’t…he didn’t…was he-? He was bein’ awful considerate for a dude she really just met, and Maggie told her about people going out of their way to be with you and making sure you’re safe when they’re sweet on you, “Um…absolutely no offense, but uh…shite, I kind of a uh…I like girls.”

              “I like girls fine too…oh! Oh shit, sorry—I’m not…babe, honey, no offense right back at you, you’ve got a whole look going here and I’m sure you’re catching the eye of plenty ladies, but you’re  _way_  too young for me…anyone my age hits on you hon, you kick them where the sun don’t shine and bolt for it, okay? I promise I wasn’t trying to get in your life in that way or anything, it’s just pure, honest concern. I might not be a girl, but uh…lived like one long enough to know it isn’t always the safest thing to walk around as.”

              “Sorry-“

              “You don’t have to apologize to me—you got a vibe and you called it out up front, dealt with it and made things clear. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s flirting and what’s friendliness. Hand to the Maker, I’m always just gonna be a friend.”

              Sera nodded. “Thanks,” she promised. “You’re always looking out for people too? Kind of like Farkus, he’s a real good guy,” it'd gotten her thinking, so she ventured, “Have you…have you told anyone about your roommate er, being that way? A dick. I mean you live with the guy, can’t he be moved somewhere else? Or you? It’d be shitty if you had to move ‘cause he’s an ass, but still, better than nothing?”

              “It’s…I’m not  _out_  across the board. If I make a big deal out of it, people are going to want to know  _why_ he doesn’t particularly like me. I’d rather deal with the jerk I know, than open myself up to way more that I don’t.”

              “Oh, frig, really? You said you er…changed your name last Fall, no one noticed?”

              “Wasn’t going to school last Fall—this is my first semester. When I started looking into University, started filling out applications I um…they ask your name, gender. I could handle the name part, but I just…couldn’t bring myself to check that box, you know? I’d been sitting on my identity for a while, just, thinking things through—what if it was just some kind of dumb phase or worse, what if it  _wasn’t_  and no one would take me seriously? Ended up thinking on it so long, I didn’t even submit my applications. Missed the deadline to get accepted for the Fall semester. My parents sat me down to hash it out, why I was dragging my feet so much when I’d been so excited about it in the past. I mean I've been saying I wanted to go to Markham since I was  _six_. I was terrified to come out to them, but…they were really great, right out the gate. They took me to get my name changed legally, helped get my marker changed on things like birth certificates, identification. So I applied as Leo Thompson, male. I’ve only disclosed to a few of my professors. It’s usually colder, I wear a lot of turtlenecks, things with high collars, my face is…most people just think I’m an effeminate guy. Pretty boy,” he shrugged.

              “I’m- I’m sorry if I made you feel badly or something the first time we met—I wasn’t judging or anything I was…you got short hair—friggin’ boss by the way—and dress masculine, but uh,” she pointed her fork at herself, “there’re girls who don’t identify as anything other than female that do that—I was just trying to measure if Inky got it mixed up, or disrespecting you or something.”

              He grinned at that, “Well, thanks. No need to worry about Ellie, she kind of…I dunno. Got a good feel for people? We met at the STEM department’s open house at the beginning of the semester, she just took one look at me, smiled and climbed up onto a desk to help me straighten my tie, promised I looked like the ‘handsomest boy in the room! Don’t tell my abuelo’. You’re not her abuelo so I’m sure it’s fine to tell you,” he chuckled. “There was a…person, introduced themselves as a man  earlier in the semester, Ellie always called them ‘them’, nicknamed them ‘Professor’.  _She’s_  going to uni in Orlais now, will start fresh in the summer now that she’s out, going to be closer to her family. She’s from Orlais originally, but took a shot at Markham, thought she’d get away from her family and then come out, was scared to, but we got to talking—she studied Literature, but Ellie met her in the library and sent her my way. She finally told her parents, confessed she was miserable missing them and home, but if they weren’t going to accept her, she’d rather stay in Markham. They came to town, mother took her shopping, get her nails done, packed her up, took her home.”

              “That’s real great,” Sera promised, but he got way off her point, probably intentionally, “Look, just…I dunno. If there’s ever anything I can do, let me know. Um. Professor…Professor Farkus and Maggie? Could they help? Have you told them?”

              He shook his head. “Farkus is a good guy, he’s already helped me, Maggie too, big time. I can’t ask more of them.”

              Maybe not…maybe  _they_  weren’t the people toask.

              “Hey, I need to uhhh…use the bathroom real quick.”

              “Just over there um, I’d go in with you if you needed me to, but I can see the door from here, I wouldn’t let anyone follow you in or anything.”

              Crap, yeah…nice having a guy friend…nice having a friend  _period,_  but nice having a guy friend that understood uhhh, girl problems. It wasn’t like Sera had a bunch of girl friends before, but even prissy bitches she met through Lady didn’t let one another go to the restroom all by themselves, and Thom and Cyril, Farkus did the same when they were out together—keeping an eye out for anyone creeping while Maggie took her and Ellie to the bathroom.

              …she did have to pee, actually, so. Eh. She’d find Cyril later.

              He actually found her. Friggin’…friggin’ sweet, mother-hen. Father-hen? Were there dad chickens?

              “Hey button- Sera- Master of Science at large,” Cyril greeted, ruddy startled her as she came out of the bathroom, “Sorry, not spying, just wanted to catch you—David came and told me you were going to lunch when he was on his way out to pick up Maggie, you’re eating with Leo? Good man, I’m glad he’s looking out for you. You’re having a good day, right?”

              “Real great,” Sera said, grabbing his forearm to stop him.

              “Oh- right, sorry—didn’t mean to drop in and embarrass you, forget I’m even here, I’ll go-“

              “I’m not ruddy embarrassed, shite you’re- you’re not embarrassing or anything, I need to talk to you. You able to get a student’s class schedule?”

              “…no…” Cyril winked. Real big. Like a dork, maybe he  _was_  a little embarrassing. “Depends. Why?”

              “Um. Someone’s messing with a friend. He doesn’t want to get people involved but I’m scared, cause he lives with this someone, you know?”

              “Roommate troubles?” Cyril wondered. Sera nodded. “Doesn’t want to report him?” she shook her head. “…on it. I’ll get the guy’s schedule, patrol around—lots of times people like that, they’re real cowards. He probably won’t do sh- er…” she rolled her eyes, and he snorted, “He probably won’t do shit if he knows he’ll get caught—if he does do anything, I’ll be right there to haul his ass into er…well the security office. But that’s basically college jail, and he gets written up—too much of that he’ll lose scholarships, get suspended, could even be expelled.”

              Sera nodded. “I was thinking about going to Thom? Would that be okay or would it…I wouldn’t want to bother him- I’m just- I’m kind of scared about um…I mean the guy has to sleep in the same room as that asshole.“

              “Don’t say asshole. But of course not sweetheart—we can talk to Thom when we get home from work, he’d be glad to hear you out.” Cyril assured, wrapping an arm around her shoulder to rub at her arm, “I’m real proud of you for looking out for your friend.”

              Friggin! That was nice. Too nice! These people needed to stop being so nice! It was ruddy weird!

              “Hey, everything cool?” Leo checked when Sera came back his way. "That was Ellie's dad, right? Didn't look like he was bothering you so I didn't want to interrupt."

              “Oh yeah, everything's Just great—Cyril was just checking in on me, first day and all.”

              They got back to it—first day. Leo walked her back to the office and apologized but he had an afternoon class to attend. But he was only gone an hour and a half and he brought more coffee when he got back. Gonna have a lot of coffee in her future huh? It wasn’t bad, bitter but she sort of liked it the same way she liked sour things. So, cool. Farkus came around a few hours after lunch and helped them with their grading…and regretfully offered them a fresh stack from his afternoon class.

              “I do promise there is something sweet headed your way as thanks for your hard work—and Leo, my Maggie and I would love for you to come to our home for dinner soon, it’s been nearly a month since we last had you over.”

              “Hey, I’m a starving college student,” Leo said, “I’ll not turn down a home cooked meal.”

              Wait, they ate good at lunch- “You’re eating good at dinner and stuff right?” she worried. He only ate whatever he could grab real quick at breakfast, maybe…was he broke or something? The school comped their lunches but he had a meal plan that worked other times too right?

              “Yeah-“ Leo sort of looked at her a second, “Oh. Yeah doll, it’s just a figure of speech.”

              …right. Duh. Figure of speech, frick. “Sorry, didn’t mean to make that weird.”

              “I didn’t hear anything weird—you hear anything weird Professor?”

              “Nothing weird at all,” Farkus shrugged. “Just let me know what evening works best for you my boy, and we’ll see you get a proper meal under our roof.”

              “Sure thing, thanks.”

              Almost got a proper meal before then—something sweet?

              “Sera Sera Sera Sera Seraaaaaaaa!” echoed down the hall outside over the thundering of footfalls.

              Sera smiled,  _sweet!_ “Inky!” she greeted, as the girl came sliding into the room, Sera’d gotten up from her seat and was braced for an Ellie hug, the girl launching herself at her, arms around her neck, Sera wrapping her arms around her to keep her on her hips, face scrunching as Ellie pressed a kiss to her cheek, and she mouthed ‘see?’ to Leo who chuckled. Sera giggled, “Heya sweets!”

              “Hi! I missed you! How was your day? Did you have fun?”

              “Loads,” she…actually had, sort of? Lots of grading, it might’ve been boring if it was just her, but with someone else, it was bearable, actually a little fun, “My day was great, but I missed you too. Just a little. You have a good day at school?”

              “Uh-huh! The best! I made you something!”

              Oh frig, really? “What’cha make me Ink?”

              “Here!” Ellie offered up this…paper thing, folded up to form a long triangular tube. “It’s for your desk! Do you like it?”

              Oh…oh it was a paper name plate— _‘S E R A’_ in bubble letters she colored in with all different patterns, polka dots, stripes, little…flowers? She was pretty sure it was flowers. “Inky! This is the best! I love it!”

              “Very pretty,” Leo complimented sincerely.

              “I made you one too! See?” she held out a second  _L E O_ stripes and butterfli—nope, not butterflies, bow ties. Cute.

              “Oh my god, thank you because to be honest—I was prepared to be jealous and steal Sera’s nameplate when she wasn’t looking. I love it, love. it,” Leo insisted.

              “No nameplate for me?” Farkus asked, sounding hurt.

              “You already  _have_  a nameplate Abuelo!” Ellie giggled.

              “Worthless, garbage nameplate-“

              “It is engraved with real gold and I got it for you for the twentieth anniversary of your position at Markham University,  _Professor_ ,” oh holy crap! Sera had to cover her mouth to stifle her giggles, Maggie was standing in the doorway, a big pale blue box in hand.

              “And I adore it, it’s beautiful," Farkus backpeddled, "a testament of your love—cherished, as I do so cherish you-“

              “You just called it garbage.”

              “One man’s trash is another man’s treasu- I’m- I’m so sorry, I’ll stop talking.”

              “Ahh, there’s the wise man I married,” Maggie teased, kissing him on the cheek before she came to Sera and Leo’s workspace and set the box down, “a wise man, who said you two are working extra hard today and deserved a little ‘thank you’.”

              Thank you, in the form of some very fancy cupcakes.  _Delicious_  fancy cupcakes. Red Velvet sounded, er, kind of gross? Who wants to eat fabric? But it was just…basically chocolate with some food coloring or something. Two for each of them, but they split their seconds into halfsies with Inky.

              “Okay, I have an evening class to get to, and if we keep you any longer I’m pretty sure we’ll be breaking some kind of child labor laws,” Leo offered jovially as he started gathering up the rest of the papers in one great big stack he piled on top of a scary looking math textbook…she might want a peek at sometime, what the frig was in there? Wait, was he gonna take these with him and grade tonight?

              “Oi! I don’t have any classes to get to—lemme take ‘em. At least some—coworkers, right?”

              “You’re sure? You’ve already done a lot and first days can really take it out of you.”

              “Dude, hand ‘em over.”

              “Alright, if you’re sure,” he said, taking up…almost half, but definitely less, to hand to her so she reached over and grabbed the part of the stack he left behind, his mouth worked to object but he sighed, “Thanks. You did great today Sera, really. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

              “Bright and early.”

              “Great, have a good one,” he wished her before gathering up his things in his messenger bag. She put her part of the grading into her briefcase and put on her coat and turned down the lamps for the night. Inky took her hand as they left the office with Maggie and Farkus, Leo locking the door up behind them.

              Holy crap. She felt exhausted and restless like she needed a twelve hour nap and to run laps around campus until her legs gave out, but like, at the same time. She couldn’t wait to get home.

               _Holy crap._  She couldn’t wait to get  _home._  That- she- she’d never felt that way before. Home was a prison Lady owned, returning to it had always weighed her down like leaded dread. Always sort of felt like she was suffocating, that each step taking her further and further into shallow air.  _This?_ It felt bracing, like the air was  _fresh,_ had more oxygen in it somehow, and she could  _run_ to the Rainier house if she was inclined to leave Inky and the others behind. But part of going home, the thrill of it all, was going home  _with_ them  _to_ someone she- she  _missed_. Like,  _all day_. Friggin’ it was dumb, but she had.

               _She couldn’t wait to get home!_

              Did wait though, a little bit at least, they lingered at the gate for a while until Cyril caught up with them, done for the day.

              “Oh man, there's my girls, how were your days? Good?” they both nodded and Cyril smiled, “Good,” he said, swooping Ink up to sit on his hip before he wrapped an arm around Sera’s shoulders, pressing a kiss to her temple, before declaring, “Homeward! Let’s go see how Papi’s doin’!”

              ‘Papi’ was doin’ just fine—had dinner ready and everything! Though he stopped what he was doing the second the door swung open, and,

              “Hey! There she is—Sera, how was your day sweethe- oof,” the man grunted, whoops. Might’ve tackled the guy, hugging him around the waist. He hugged her back, resting a hand on the crown of her head, “hey, honey, what’s up?”

              “Sorry, I just kind of missed you is all.”

              He bent his head down, pressing a kiss to the top of her head and then she felt him smile before he lifted his face to say, “I missed you too, sweet girl. How was your day?”

              “It was great! I um,” she pulled back to look up at him, nervous, “I have something I wanna talk to you about though, if that’s okay? Maybe after dinner, if- if you feel like it?”

              Brow furrowed at that, concerned, “Yeah, of course. Everything okay? Did something happen?”

              Sera jerked her head in Ink’s direction, the girl was making play with Samson, the dog had bound at her the moment they were inside, jumping on her and licking her face. Thom got the point she didn’t want to say anything in front of her. “Not to me,” she assured him though.

              “She talked to me about it at school, love, she wanted to bring you in, we’ll catch you up.” Cyril said as he joined them, hand rubbing Sera’s back before he kissed Thom on the cheek. Sera gave them some space so they could uh, do whatever, it was sweet how they always looked forward to seeing each other at the end of the day. Cyril seemed ruddy excited as he leaned in close, lips to Thom’s ear and he whispered real quiet, Sera just barely heard, “How’d it go? Need any help or is it all set up?”

              “Just about broke my damn thumb helping them get it in place,” Thom quietly replied, “but it’s in, fit perfect.”

              Cyril sighed, relieved and then louder, “Let’s eat, yeah? Dinner smells amazing.”

               _Was_  amazing. Both food wise, and the fun of getting to be excited about her day, and share it with her…people? Her friends. And it was nice, Professor saying what a good job she’d done, that he was proud of her—all of them saying as much, too. No one…no one had ever been  _proud_ of her before she met these people.

              They got to talking once Inky was in the bath—Ellie  _was_ allowed to take baths on her own as long as she kept the bathroom door open so the adults could check on her, hear her splashin’, singing, making idle chatter with Sammy, and know she hadn’t fallen asleep or something or if she needed anything. She sat around the kitchen with Thom and Cyril, told them what happened in the hallway that morning.

              “I already had words with people I work with,” Cyril said, “Can’t do anything ‘official’  _yet._  But I’ve swapped patrols so, when I’m on duty, I’ll keep an eye out for Leo, have his back. When I’m off duty, there are others, people I trust, who will do the same. Sera here’s worried about where we can’t exactly patrol, per se. Not like a security guard can bunk in the guy’s room at night. She wanted to talk to you.”

              “Um…I mean I know there’s rules or whatever, about how and when you can get involved and Leo doesn’t want to make a thing out of it, but…I dunno I just, I don’t know what to do,” she shrugged.

              “Hey, don’t worry honey, thank you. For coming to me,” Thom said, reaching out and resting a hand over hers, “I know a guy.”

              … “like a hit-man?”

              Thom choked at that, “Maker’s  _breath,_  no I don’t know any hi-” he cringed and then shrugged, “I wouldn’t  _hire_ a hit-man. Especially not the ones I know, most of them aren’t worth their salt. Can’t do anything official but I’ll collaborate with Cyril, he got the guy’s schedule. I’ll swing by tomorrow in uniform—just there to see my girl, my guy, my mom—got all sorts of legitimate reasons to be on campus, with a few friends of mine.”

              “Hit-man friends?”

              “Sweetheart, this bastard lays a hand on  _you_  I’ll kill him myself—as it stands, I’ll put fear…reasonable caution in this bloke, let him know if anything ever happens to Leo, he’s the one we’ll go after, so it’s best if he does his thing, and leaves Leo to do his.”

              Sera nodded, “Good. Thanks, I’m sorry.”

              “There’s nothing in the world to be sorry over. Sera, you’ve done exactly what we asked of you,” Thom commended, “You’re to come with us, whenever you need help—even if it’s just your friends that need it. Leo’s important to this family—and even if he wasn’t, anyone that’s important to you? Is important to us. Sweetheart?”

              Friggin’ dumb. Sera sniffled, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. Just…weird. Overwhelming, that  _she_ made someone important to someone else. Because she was important to them. “’m okay.”

              “You’ve had a long day. Bath’s all yours for however long you need it tonight.”

              “Thanks. I still have a little bit of work to do, brought it home with me. Can I work out here?”

              Thom looked very serious as he shook his head, oh- oh shit had she said something? Crap- “Absolutely not,” he refused. But then he smiled, “You’ll sit at a proper desk,” he said with certainty, slapping a hand to his thigh as he rose up out of his chair hand on her shoulder when she got up with him, Cyril taking her arm in his, hugging it a bit,

              “Just this way m'lady,” dork. Cyril was a dork! Seemed downright giddy as he and Thom led her toward Inky’s room…which made sense, yeah, only desk in the house was her’s,

              “I- yeah, I guess for tonight I’ll use Ellie’s as long as shes okay with it, but I don’t want take up her space.” Shite, she already took up her room.

              “Well then, it’s a good thing the only space you’ll be taking up is your own,” Thom said as he pushed open the door-

              …

              She stopped dead in her tracks, mouth just sorta…hanging open yup, not sure how to work it anymore.

              “Weeeell, what’d’ya think? Will it work?” Cyril questioned.

              “Do you like it?” Thom asked.

              “…y-you…you got me a desk.” A big…pretty, friggin- _What’s your favorite color?_ They…they asked her what her favorite something was, and actually listened to the answer, it wasn’t ‘oh that’s out of season’ or ‘my god Seda, who cares?’. They- Sera wasn’t sure if she was happy or sad or losing her mind but she started  _giggling,_ laughing, and then she drug in a breath, just, totally- she couldn’t believe- “you got me a bright ass yellow desk! I love it!"

              “Well we love you, button,” Cyril offered back as if it were the simplest thing in the world. They loved her. She was someone people  _loved._  They didn’t care if she was awkward or tall or how much she weighed or what she looked like, how she liked to dress, who she’d like to _un_ dress, they- they didn’t even care that she was an  _Elf!_ She- she  _hated everything_ about  _being_ an Elf, that it was something people knew about her right away, no hiding it, and it meant that everyone-  _some_  people, would hate her, despise and distrust her right from the start because of something she was born as, something she couldn’t  _help_. That…that might not be something bad after all, being Elfy.

              Oh. “Sorry I said ‘ass’.”

              “You were pretty excited, I think we’ll let it slide. Plus uh…I guess it’s mostly we’re used to guarding our tongues around tender ears. Those ears are getting a bath right now, so,” Cyril shrugged.

              Sera nodded, she went to the desk, laid a hand on it like…part of her was pretty sure it couldn’t be real, but it was. Maker, it was just…so pretty. “I really do love it.”

              “We’re glad sweetheart.” Thom said. “There’s pencils and paper, pens—mother gets them like crazy, this company that likes her business sends her freebies all the time, you ever need more, just ask. I got supplies coming in tomorrow to put you up a few shelves over your desk but I wanted your opinion on how high you want ‘em. Mother likes having things she can reach while sitting down, but that might not be your style, you might want more space between your shelves and your desk.”

               _Her_ shelves,  _her_ desk. “I…yeah I kind of like the idea of not having to get up everytime I need something, I could keep going with whatever I’m doing- yeah. Thanks,” she said, “You’re sure this is all okay? I mean I’m taking a lot of space and this is Inky’s roo-“

              “It’s your room, Sera,” Cyril said, “and I mean you two sharing one bed instead of having two separate ones means there’s more room, plenty for this. And we’d make a second bed work if either of you change your minds.”

              “Thanks, I mean it.”

              “Of course,” Thom said, “Well, we’ll let you get to work. You need anything? Something to drink?”

              “…maybe some juice?”

              “Sure thing lovey—apple, orange, grape?”

              “We have orange juice now?”

              “Said you liked it when we had breakfast out the other day, picked some up on my way home from work, sorry I forgot to offer it this morning.”

              “Thanks, yeah, that’d be great.”

              “Then you, sit,” Thom said, “get to it—I’ll get your drink, tell Ellie-girl to let you work.”

              “And I…will go study, because my ass has an Herbal Remedies midterm in the morning,” Cyril said, pressing a kiss to her forehead, “Don’t work too hard—bathe, sleep.”

              “You got it.”

              They got her a desk.

              It was the best—they’d even gotten her a lamp! And a chair! She wasn’t sure why she was so stupid excited over every last detail, duh, you needed a chair to sit at a desk, but still! She got right into grading again, only interruption was Thom bringing juice, tousling her hair a bit, and then Inky got out of the bath and had her own happy freak out over Sera’s set up, excited that Sera loved it, and she put…Inky’d known! Had been in on all this—she put a second nameplate on her desk-

              This one said  _Sissy_.

              “S-sissy?”

              Ellie was at her own desk on the opposite wall, legs swinging as she studied her History textbook, “Que? Oh! Yeah, not the mean way—like sister! I mean we’re best best best best friends, and you’re always looking out for me like the grown ups are, but you’re just a kid too! And we live in the same house and have the same family!”

              “…we do?”

              “Well yeah, Ser’! Papa and Papi and our Maggie and Abuelo and Sammy!” the Mabari barked at mention of his name…though maybe he was seconding the girl.

              Mouth felt a little dry, and she wasn’t sure how to even begin processessing that but…but maybe she was right? She sipped at her orange juice, cleared her throat, “Thanks Ink, I love it.”

              “Yay! I gotta history test in the morning, but if you need help grading, I got stickers!”

              …didn’t think college kids would want stickers. They were kinda babyish right?

              Though Ellie did finish studying before Sera finished grading and frowned when she saw all the D’s and F’s Sera had to hand out—there weren’t loads, but yeah, few people didn’t do too hot.

              “Do you think they’ll be sad?”

              “Mmm, probably—but they gotta get an accurate grade back so they know for real how they did—otherwise they don’t know how to improve, right?”

              She let Ellie put stickers on them, to soften the blow—yeah, they flunked, but they also got cute stickers of cartoon bears and candies, so…they’d either feel a little better, or think they were being called dumb babies. Either worked for Sera—as far as Inky knew it’d be the ‘feel better’ thing and that made her happy, and if it was the dumb baby thing, it might be funny. Mean-funny, but funny. So, she told Inky she could knock herself out while Sera headed for the bath.

              “Hello sweet girl,” Maggie greeted—she was curled up in an armchair with a book in her lap, “I was just about to check on you. Finished for the night?”

              “Uh-huh, all done.”

              “Really? My word girl,” Maggie laughed, “Oh, David best watch himself, I swear if that man crosses me, I’m not only keeping you in the divorce—you’ll come grade things for me, be my TA.”

              “Do you have a TA? I’d always be down for helping you on the weekends or whatever.”

              “Oh honey, that’s sweet, come here,” the woman waved her over and when was close the woman pulled her closer, to be seated in her lap, holy crap, she was heavy though- Maggie just wrapped her arms around her and rested her chin on Sera’s head. “You did very well today my dear, we’re all so proud of you—but make sure you don’t overwork yourself, alright? I know you might feel pressure to prove yourself, but there’s nothing to prove. If you’ve done your best, let yourself relax.”

              “Thanks, I um, I’ll keep that in mind. um…Maggie? Thanks, you know? For everything you’re doing, taking me in, tr-treating me like family.”

              “We are family, sweetheart. We might not share blood but neither do I share any with Ellie, or Cyril—that man is my son, just as much as Thom is. I love you just as much as I love Ellie. You’re my grandbabies and you’ll just have to deal with it.”

              “Who’s a baby?” Thom asked as he came into the living room, securing the last strap on his armguard, getting ready to head out for patrol.

              “Sera,” his mother supplied. “She’s our biggest, brilliant baby.”

              Oi! “’m not a baby!”

              “Girl—we’re ancient, you’re only fourteen, you’re practically an infant,” Thom assured her, “You’re growing up, but—and I do so hate to break it to you—you’ll always be our baby girl, same as Ellie.”

              “Gross!” Just! “Go- go beat up some bad guys or something, aren’t you late for work?”

              Thom chuckled, “Alright, alright,” he said, dropping a kiss to his mother’s hair before he pressed a kiss to Sera’s cheek, “Have sweet dreams honey, I’ll see you at breakfast.”

              Sera nodded. “Be safe, yeah?”

              “Back at you—no falling asleep in the tub.”

              She…might have almost fallen asleep in the tub—almost. But Samson followed her into the bathroom, resting on the bathroom rug, but he jumped up and started barking at her the moment she dozed off, just about gave her a ruddy heart attack! But uh, probably kept her from drowning, or choking on suds or somethin’.

              Cyril was already off to school when they came to breakfast that morning—final cramming session with a study group in one of the school libraries before he worked his shift patrolling campus. Thom sent them off in the morning with the promise he’d swing by the school early afternoon to make good on his promise to put a bit of fear in Leo’s roommate. Ellie was excited to get to school because Maggie was going to go with her—some kind of ‘kids bring in their grown ups and they talk about their jobs’ thing they did once every fall and spring. Thom and Cyril had participated last school year, and David had been her shiny new ‘Abuelo’ in the Fall so she wanted to show him off, now it was Maggie’s turn.

              “Sera, Sera! Will you come with me next year?” Ellie asked as they walked her to school, “You can tell kids about going to University and your job!”

              “Uhh, sure thing Ink, as long as that’d be okay with your teacher people,” Sera supposed.

              “It’ll be so cool!”

              “Hey—your Maggie’s finally getting her turn today, and she’s going to be the coolest,” Maggie assured her.

              “You already _are_ the coolest—you’re the coolest person I know!”

              “I am?”

              “Uh-huh! Well, third coolest.”

              Maggie’s mouth dropped open at that,  _“Third?”_

              “Yeah! It goes Papi, and then Sera and then you!”

              “I  _made_ your Papi, home made, from scratch. He’s only alive to be cool because of me.”

              “Uh-huh, with that, and you’re jobs, and your suits, you’re third coolest! Out of all the people I know! Abuelita I’ve been places, seen things—I met a werewolf once!—I know lots of people, and you’re top three!”

              “I’m second coolest?” Sera wondered.

              “Well yeah! You’re brave like Papi—he’s just bigger and I’ve seen him in a knife fight—and you’re smart like Abuelita, and you say the funniest things!”

              “Am I on your cool list at all, mija?” David asked.

              “…you’re on my most handsome list!”

              “That’s fair.”

              “It’s Samson, Russel—person and the Bear—Papa and Papi rank number three. Leo, then James, then David, and then you Abeulo! You’ve got the most handsomest eyes! They’re so crinkly when you smile—like they’re smiling! They make me so _happy!”_

              Sera snorted, “You’re number seven!” she teased.

              “And I’m honored—it’s my favorite number,” David insisted, “a strong, proud, prime number. And it’s followed me all my life—I found my love of science at the tender age of seven, felt the first blush of a boyhood crush at fourteen—Lacey Tannenbaum, she might have met in History class but we had chemistry,”  he waggled his eyebrows—this is why he wasn’t on the cool list, “and I was twenty one when I-“ he went dead silent.

              “When you what, Abuelo?” Inky asked, looking up at him as they walked along.

              “…when I…dedicated myself to the Chantry and all its teachings. Oh what a beautiful and majestic Maker we serve,” he cleared his throat, “and of course I fell in love with your lovely grandmother when I was 42.”

              “David, my god man, we were not wed until you were-,” Maggie’s eyes widened and then she murmured, “…oh my word, we married just after your 49th birthday.”

              “Not only is 49 a multiple of seven...it is seven _times_ seven. As they say—I rest my case. Seventh most handsome is where I belong.”

              Sera waited until Ink was out of earshot, off to show her Abuelita off, when she ventured, “…do I even what to know what you did at 21?”

              “What is it you think I did?” he wondered.

              “Lost your V card.”

              He snorted! “I do believe I informed you the young Miss Tannenbaum and myself had  _chemistry_. No, when I was 21 I dabbled in er…some mild Lyrium use at the start of a night that ended in my getting a tattoo of a woman’s face…on my person. Someplace you will never see, I hope to the Maker—do be mindful to knock before entering the bathroom.”

              Maybe dude belonged on the ‘cool’ list after all? “It’s still there?!” Sera squeaked, “…on your  _butt?”_

              “Indeed.”

              “Whose face?”

              “The thing is, I don’t rightly know. Beautiful woman, whoever she is, made Maggie  _very_  jealous.”

              Sera screamed with laughter, holy- holy crap! She laughed so hard she had to hold her sides! Friggin’ almost hurt, ribs felt sore from her carrying on, David had to lend her use of his handkerchief.

              …though uh, holding her sides hadn’t made her realized she hadn’t been holding anything else the entire walk to work.

              She’d held hands with Inky, yeah, but uh, nothing in her free hand.

              Like her briefcase.

              Her briefcase, full of all her half of the graded papers.

              And she didn’t realize it until she was in the office with Leo and David—the Professor was talking them through the day, Sera really, since he asked if she’d like to participate in their lab this afternoon, all sections had lab all at once, that meant all his students so,

              “We’ll pass back everyone’s assignments at the end of lab,” Leo said, sighing as he patted the stack on his desk, “I was actually able to study for midterms  _and_ squeeze in a few hours sleep last night—thanks for taking so much home with you.”

              …

              Home. Frick frick frick frick frick she-

              “Oh- oh crap, did I bring my briefcase?” she asked, whipping about to look at her desk, then under it.

              “I could’ve sworn you had it with you this morning,” David said, “it was with you at breakfast-“

              “I- I th-think I left it-“ shit, shit- oh man, she set it down on the floor at her feet at breakfast and just- she just left it there like an idiot! “I’m- I left- I’m s-sorry, I messed up I’m-“ oh shit her breath caught in her throat and she- she couldn’t- her heart started pounding in her chest like she was running-

              She flinched when a hand went to her back, resting on it, warm, rubbing circles, “Sera? Sera, honey, breathe,” Professor’s voice, hands, on her back and one on her face, thumb brushing against her cheek as he hunched to be level with her, “in and out, it’s  _alright_  my dear, these things happen- we can return everyone’s things tomorrow, or next week, this is college.”

              “Hey honey, you’re okay,” Leo promised, “try to match your breathing to the Professors, focus on him, our voices, okay?”

              She nodded, that- that helped, helped her regain some control of her focus  _one plus one is two, plus one is three, plus two is_  “Sorry, I- that- I didn’t mean to throw a fit,” she promised, crap. Her ears were burning, face red, at least she could breathe again but-

              “A fit? Honey, that was a panic attack,” Leo corrected, concerned. “Sit down, okay? You like tea? I’ma make you some tea, no more caffeine this morning—I think we have chamomile somewhere.”

              “Sera, has this happened to you before?” David wondered as he pulled out her desk chair gestured for her to sit, so, she did, nodding. Cripes this was embarrassing. “How often?”

              “Lately? Not at all, ‘cept um, t-today. I- I used to have ‘em all the time when I lived with Lady. I was always scared I was gonna mess up, do or say or act the wrong way in front of people and they’d get back to her and she’d-,” Sera shrugged, “you know. Get mad.”

              “She’s the one that called them fits?” the Professor asked, Sera nodded. “Did she talk about this with your healer?”

              “No, it’s just- it’s me, I don’t know why, it just is.”

              “Nah babe, that’s crap,” Leo said with certainty. “I used to have panic attacks when I was littler. Figuring out, struggling with my whole,” he gestured vaguely to his body before resuming his tea making, “business. It’s- it’s serious, Sera, that you’re wound so tight that setbacks can trigger that in you.”

              “You’re hardly in any trouble,” David assured her, squeezing her hand, “I did ask Leo to try and make sure I could have those assignments by the start of business today, so I could take the morning to enter them into my gradebook and get them passed back in time for these poor souls so they can calculate just how much they can stand to miss on their midterms this week. That’s a kindness they’d appreciate, but don’t necessarily need—people sometimes wholly forget they ever even did an assignment by the time they get it back. You’re just starting out, and you’re doing well, Sera, anyone could forget their briefcase—I’d forget my own head if it wasn’t attached. Do you know how many times I’ve contemplated gluing my spectacles to my head? If we didn’t have Ellie’s m- magnificent capacity for finding important things, I’d be stumbling around blind.”

              Sera nodded, yeah, that…that made sense. Damn, “I’m sorry-“

              “You don’t have to be sorry—be more mindful when you leave in the mornings. I myself have forgotten my keys to the house and the like, glasses, my wallet—the pat down I give myself everymorning isn’t merely me appreciating what the good Maker gave me,” David chuckled, “I check my pockets, vest and trousers to ensure I’m not walking out without something I need.”

              “Soooo…just make sure I’ve got Inky in one hand and my briefcase in the other?”

              David smiled warmly, nodding, “Exactly my dear.”

              Tea was…eh, she liked it fine, it’d been nice of Leo to think of it, it was kind of comforting to hold something warm in her hands, and chamomile…huh that was in the tea she drank with Cyril.

              Speaking of the Rainier men—there was a knock on the doorjamb, Thom standing in the doorway in his plainclothes, holding up-

              “Hey honey, I hope I’m not interrupting, but I saw this,” friggin’ briefcase! “by your chair when I cleaned up after breakfast—thought you might need it-“ he chuckled when she shot up out of her seat and hugged him, big hugs for absolutely amazing life savers! He- he rested his free hand on the crown of her head, way that becoming commonplace when she hugged him—dumb, it made her feel safe!

              “Thank you thank you thank you, you’re  _the best!”_ she said, pulling away, “oh  man, thanks, I’m sorry I forgot it, crap—you haven’t even been to sleep yet.”

              “s’fine—I’ve done the same for Cyril, that man forgot his damn Potions textbook just about every day his first week of class, he’d just walk off with everything he needed for work, school things be damned.”

              Huh. Yeah, she really had freaked out over something dumb hadn’t she? She wasn’t used to taking anything with her—always left her money in her coat pocket, and that was basically all she had in the world to keep track of. Walking out of the house without anything was the norm. “Thanks.”

              “Everything okay?” he asked, resting a hand on her forehead, “you seem a little flushed.”

              “I will take this,” David said, taking her briefcase from Thom, “Leo, my boy, do please bring along your contribution to the grading pile and let’s get these to my office, I should get started putting them down in the gradebook. Sera.”

              Oh…he gave her this look, not mean, but intoning—mouthing ‘talk to him’.

              “Sweetheart?”

              Sera sighed and sat on top of her desk, “Um. So. I kind of had…Leo called it a ‘panic attack’? When I realized I forgot my briefcase.”

              “A panic attack? Honey,” Thom breathed, resting a hand on her shoulder, “Are you okay? Do you want me to walk you to the Healers, or go get your p- Cyril?”

              She shook her head, “Nah, it used to happen all the time, worst thing that ever happened was a yacked up my breakfast, but I don’t feel like I’m going to be sick or anything.”

              “Have you talked about them with Healer Yursa?” he asked, she was the Healer Maggie got her in to see.

              “I uh…didn’t know they were a thing? Like something that could be wrong with other people, that I could get help with. Lady always made it seem like something I was choosing to do? Throwing a fit for attention or whatever.”

              Thom cleared his throat, taking a deep breath before he nodded, “Alright. Well, I think you should talk to somebody about this sweetheart. Your Healer, or Cyril, or a um, a therapist. Have you thought any about seeing someone?”

              …not exactly. Kind of? Sounded weirdy to her, but Inky seemed to like it fine, she’d had her monthly appointment last week, some Healer Marigold that specialized in mental whatever. Health. Psychology, whatever. Ellie said Sera could come if she wanted, even sit in on it if she wanted to see what it was like, maybe Healer Marigold would be a good fit for her, Sera went along just to walk with Inky, Maggie, and Thom, but she sat in the waiting room with the adults, she didn’t want to mess up Ellie’s appointment—people went to therapy to deal with their personal private pish, right? Especially when they had new changes and things to handle? Sera was a big part of new changes in Inky’s life and if…if she was struggling or something, needed to talk about problems she might have with the older girl, she should be able to talk about it without worrying that Sera is right there listening.

              Though uh…Sera’d been able to overhear pretty well—Ellie was real chatty about the older girl, excitedly telling the Healer all about Sera moving in and how great it was, she loved sharing her room and having a friend to come home to and play with. She hadn’t ever thought about siblings before, she knew some kids had brothers and sisters but they was usually complaining about them, being mean to one another, the only thing that seemed nice was even when they weren’t getting along at all, if another kid messed with one of them, it was over—someone had their backs and was there for them. She hadn’t realized having someone like a big sister around would be so great! Sera never picked on her or made her sad or put her down or anything, they always had so much fun together, even just being together not doing anything particularly interesting, she was pretty sure they could just sit in total silence for hours on end doing nothing at all and it’d be fun! Yeah, they probably could. They did pretty much everything together and it was pretty great.

              But…huh, there was- they said Ink was only seeing her therapy person once a month but there was somewhere…did she have to see someone weekly for her asthma? There was somewhere else she went once a week, an appointment she never invited Sera along for, which was fine, it was her friggin’ business, just…she wasn’t sure, it felt kind of strange that Ellie’d be completely quiet about this whatever it was she did, Thom and Cyril always took her, after dinner once a week, always a different day of the week, they’d go somewhere, just say they were going ‘out’ never  _where_ and they…they usually were pretty forthright with where they were going—everyone always said ‘hey I’m going to be at this specific shop or restaurant if you need me/I’ll be running around this street and that avenue and I should be back by this time’. But this was always ‘we’re going out, we’ll be back, love you’. Which was nice, but not very specific. Ellie was always super excited to go, wherever it was, and she always came home absolutely beat, one time Thom had to carry her home she was so exhausted, sweaty so she’d be a real stinky Inky, those nights Sera always bathed with her to make sure she didn’t fall asleep in the tub or something—she nearly did a few times, shite! When Sera asked what the frig they did that got her so tired, she got real shy about it, almost guilty but she’d just shrug and say it was training. And yeah, Cyril and Thom were big on the whole ‘self-defense’ thing, but while Sera hadn’t really taken them up on it yet, she always went along with them for that—they’d go to the park a few times a week, spend hours there on the weekend running and playing but also learning different stances and strikes, how to get out of someone’s hold when they’re bigger than you. So…like, what? This was some kind of extra training?

              “Sera?”

              She startled a bit, and then looked to Thom, right, yeah, he’d asked her a question. Normal people answer questions, “Um…you think it’d help?”

              “I would hope so, if we got you in with someone that didn’t fit, we’d keep looking. There’s all sorts of things, practices that might help, potion,” Thom said, assuring, “Anything you need honey, we would make sure you have. I know this is something you can’t help, but try not to be so hard on yourself bug—you need a little help learning how to handle mistakes, people make them constantly, no one’s immune to it.”

              “You don’t.”

              “Are you kidding me? I’m a father, and a husband, a son—I make mistakes every day, all the time. I was kicking myself for letting you walk out the door without your briefcase honey—I mean I take a good look at you girls before you leave for the day,” at her weird look he carefully explained, “anything ever happens to you, if we had to say what you were last seen wearing I’d want to be sure of it, you know? Just a habit from work—it scared me shitless the first time I handled a missing child’s case and the parents were just…they couldn’t believe they couldn’t remember what their kid wore to school and it just always stuck with me. Blue jumper, yellow skirt by the way, we found her she went home with a friend without asking because she thought her parents would say ‘no’,” he assured, “Anyway, I should’ve noticed you were leaving without something you needed. I’m sure I’ll look back on this conversation and think of all the different things I should have said, things I could’ve said better to help you.”

              “Well don’t, ya dummy,” Sera said, “You- you did a good job—great one, really. I’ll um…I’ll check out their uh counseling thing here.”

              …how exactly did you do that? Make an appointment? How did you make appointments?

              “If you want, I’ll talk to Cyril about it when I come by later—I’ll be back in uniform, as promised,” he said, “We’ll get something set up, go with you if you want, or Maggie too even if you prefer.”

              “Like…talking to the councilor and everything or…?”

              “That’d be entirely up to you button, you want us in there, nothing’d keep us away. You want us to just stay in the waiting room or the minute you want us out, we’ll do that, no problem.”

              Sera nodded, “Kay. I’ll uh, I’ll think about it.”

              “You’re alright now? You don’t need to go home or anything?”

              “I’m okay, I should…probably get back to work. Not exactly making a good impression my second day in.”

              “Had a bit of a hiccup, you’ll catch your stride again lovey,” he assured her, pressing a kiss to her forehead, “Go, have a good day.”

              “Thanks, you too.” Shite, she still- crap she felt bad he came and fixed her mess, he hadn’t gotten a bit of sleep yet, huh? “G-get some rest, yeah?”

              She wasn’t exactly sure what to do next. But the Professor and Leo had gone to his office, right? And they were working on getting things into the gradebook um…

              She brewed up a bot of peppermint tea, took it on a tray with clean mugs and went to join them.

              “…check on her, do you think?” Leo was asking as she approached the office.

              “Hopefully Thom has the good sense to take her home,” oh…crap. She really had messed up, hadn’t she? The Professor wanted her- “poor thing, I thought- Maker I thought she was going to pass out, I hope she’s alright. She should rest.”

              “Mmm, best nap I’ve had in a while was when you sent me back to my dorm my…third week working here? Little more difficult to send her for a lie-down  when she doesn’t live on campus, but I’ve got a friend that lives in Rosethorn Hall—she’d let her lay down in her room if she needs- and that, is why…you should always tie your shoes,” Leo whipped his sentence on around as Sera pushed the office door open, “Sera! Hey honey, how you feelin’? The Professor and I were just…”

              “Discussing the finer points of footwear safety in the lab,” David said.

              “Damn,” Leo breathed, “that was good—is good!” last two words loud, directed at Sera.

              She snorted, “Sure. No worries—I’m okay, I’m sorry about before. I brought tea—Peppermint?”

              “Oh, please, set it here,” David said, gesturing to an empty space on his desk, he was seated behind it, Leo was seated in one of the chairs opposite him so Sera set the tray down before taking the other seat. “Thank you. Leo, do pour her a cup as well,” and to Sera, “you’re sure you’re alright?”

              She nodded, accepting a warm cup from Leo, “I am, thanks,” she said. Mmm, kay, mint was pretty good, she could see why it was the Professor’s favorite. “Soooo, lab—that’s this afternoon, right? What about this morning, is there anything we need to do?”

              “I’ll be wrapping up recording grades, Leo will know how they should be organized for passing out in lab. If you’re up for assisting this afternoon, you and Leo should spend the morning brushing up on the procedure for our experiment and lab safety—you’ll be in charge of setting up the laboratory beforehand. Students are responsible for cleanup. You and Leo will be assisting as needed, making certain everyone is keeping up and following directions and the like, bringing any major issues to my attention.”

              “Cool, on it,” Sera said.

              She was. She and Leo spent the rest of their morning in their office, reading over the afternoon’s experiment—their midterm lab would be Thursday, so, today was sort of a gentle review of sorts, easy to do but it would still be a test of basics they’d need for tackling their midterms. ‘Identifying an Unknown Compound’, where they’d be given an unidentified powder, and test it to verify what it is. So, read up on how that should go down, and Leo ran her through safety protocol—how to handle any kind of accidental spill whether it’s on the floor or on a person, if someone gets something in their eyes or in an injury. And Leo let her help with organizing their graded papers so she could get a good idea of the order they’d go in in the future. This morning had been embarrassing, but…she caught her stride again, just like Thom said. Friggin’, he was the best.

              …maybe Cyril was the best.

             They were just stepping out of line in the lunch hall, trays full and looking for a place to sit, when Leo's roommate struck. Literally, struck Leo's tray, slapped it down out of his hands, "Watch where you're goin'," he sneered, though in the next moment his eyes went wide in his head as a hand gripped at the back of his neck and someone forced him to his knees.

              "Oi, looks like you made a mess of this young man's meal. I'll see that it comes out of your Meal Plan," Cyril said, "Now, apologize and clean this mess up." And then he looked up to Sera, "Are you alright sweetheart? He didn't get anything on you, did he? If you made a mess her clothes you best believe I'm billing you for the cleaning."

              Oh, oh! Felt weirdy to say it but she borrowed Ellie's word, "Looks like it's all good, papa, I don't think he got anything on me."

              "Papa?" asshole asked, lookin' at her real hard and then up at Cyril.

              "Yeah, that's my brilliant daughter, and her handsome friend you just about spilt shit all over. Maybe you should pay more attention to where you're going next time—making a mess with the wrong people can stick," Cyril warned, "You okay Leo?" Leo nodded. "Glad to hear it buddy, you go ahead and get another tray. Don't fill up too much though—family dinner tonight at our place, that work for you?"

              "Uhhh yeah, dinner tonight sounds good," Leo shrugged.

              "Good, I'll make sure Maggie knows you're coming, she's making lasagna, it's amazing," Cyril assured.

              “C’mon Leo,” Sera said, taking the Human man’s hand and pulling him along, “back of the line—I’ll walk with you, yeah?”

              He nodded, leaning in closer to speak softly as they found their place in line again, “What just happened?”

              Sera shrugged. “Dude showed his ass in front of the wrong person. Cyril wasn’t going to see something and just let it slide. You’re sure dinner tonight is cool? You can walk home with us if you want.”

              “Yeah, lasagna sounds amazing.”

              Lasagna was gonna be good…and so was whatever Thom had cooking up, cripes! He was decked out in his full blown guard armor, helmet, shield, friggin’ a  _cape!_  Marchin' onto campus with three of his fellow guardsmen, offering up a little wave to Sera as he passed.

              “Thom’s here?”

              “Lunch date with Cyril,” Sera breezed.

              “Soooo…papa?” Leo asked, surprised.

              “Dunno, kind of dumb right?” She wasn’t sure she’d start calling the guy that for permanent, it…just felt weird. Like she was stepping someplace she didn’t belong—she just went along with it ‘cause it seemed like the guy was trying to make a point, make it clear there was someone with a real connection to Leo and his friends looking out for them.

              “’course not. I think it’s really cool, everyone deserves to have people looking out for them, who care about them. Love’s what makes family and all that,” Leo shrugged.

              Maybe it was.

              What made up the ‘mysterious’ white substance experiment though was pretty cool too—Sera and Leo got to put on lab coats, protective glasses, leathery gloves they were to tuck their sleeves into. Leo helped her slick back her hair and gather it at the back of her head in a little ponytail to keep it back. Then they were off to the lab! Friggin’, the space was  _huge_ an entire thing the size of the Professor’s lecture hall, Sera’s arms broke out in gooseflesh just entering the space.

              “This is freakin’ cool,” she breathed.

              “Yeah it is,” Leo said, “best set up in all of Thedas—Orlais can brag all it likes, but their Uni hasn’t got it topped.”

              They got everything set up, she and Leo sort of made a game of it—he set up one half of the lab and Sera the other. There was a mix of different white substances—baking soda, powdered Elf root*, corn starch, caffeine, chalk, Epsom salt—each lab station got a different one to test and figure out what it is they have. So they each took three at random, and have a bit of competition—if Sera could figure out what Leo had set up on his side of the room, before he could figure out the ones on hers.

              All in all it was a right blast! Just stupid fun getting to help out and do an easy,  no-sweat experiment…getting to interact with Farkus’s students, like, introduce herself, be welcomed, it was nice. She’d been nervous, she was always nervous, felt like she never knew the right thing to say when talking to people, but everyone was nice. And they passed back everyone’s graded things before their time was up—she’d been a little worried they’d find the stickers babyish but,

              “Dude, how the hell’d you get a sticker? I want one!”

              “Well suck it, Andrews, I got one and I’m not sharing!”

              So apparently college kids liked stickers just as much as Inky did. So, sweet!

              She and Leo got so caught up helping everyone though they ended up calling their little competition a tie…even though Sera’d figured out what was on her side from the get go—by smell, she could tell she had Epsom salt, baking soda, and she wasn’t sure what processed, powdered caffeine smelled like, but she could tell Leo had Elf Root since one of his substances was off-white, this light greenish tinge to it, and her last substance definitely didn’t smell like cornstarch or chalk. So. She’d caffeine, he had Elf Root, cornstarch, chalk on his side by process of elimination.

              Cleaning up the lab wasn’t as bad as she thought it might be, yeah there were a few powdery penis drawings to wash off the lab table tops here and there, but Leo took the half of the room Sera set up, and she took the half he had and they got it cleaned up real nice! Leo had to go over one of the tables she’d cleaned, she’d missed a few spots, but he just assured her she’d get the hang of it.

              “Alright—we’re basically done for the day. Everyone will turn their lab workbooks in tomorrow with their final observations from today’s experiment, so…I got midterms to study for, and I’m probably going to clean up before heading for the Professor’s house. Are you sticking around campus? Professor usually stays in his office after lab to catch up on research and have informal office hours, but we’re off the hook.”

              Oh. “Uhhh…yeah I’ll find something to do,” she shrugged. She could check out the libraries or something, or see if David needed any help, or Maggie? Would she be in any today? It was only two thirty…would Cyril be off work yet? Maybe she could head to Inky’s school, she knew the way, and it was light out, she could just go and wait by the gate for Ellie and whoever was going to pick her up today, frick, she hoped Thom managed to get some kind of sleep today.

              “If you want, I’m going to be in the Science department’s library studying—you can hang out, look around and see if you find anything you wanna check out or hey, be a pal and help me study?”

              Oh! “Yeah! That’d be great!” Oh wait, “Um…I mean you’re sure you’d want me hanging around?”

              “Of course Ser’, I wouldn’t’ve invited you otherwise. Come on, let’s get de-labified and hit the books. Hard. Where they won’t be expecting—if we destroy them, they can’t hurt our heads anymore.”

              “…orrr you fail all your midterms because you destroyed your study materials.”

              “Gah! See? This is why I need you tagging along—I was just gonna run with the destroying them thing.”

              Sera snorted, “Yeah yeah.”

              It was…fun, meeting Leo’s friends, they all seemed pretty cool, lots of science majors…’cept one of his girl friends—separate words…for right now—she was a music major, real cute Human girl, long blonde hair, big brown eyes that lit up the moment Leo showed up—she was crushin’ big time! Didn’t have any ruddy business bein’ in the science library, she didn’t even have a class to study for, ‘least not one this library’d be any use for, she just hung out and wrote in a notebook the whole time, occasionally flipped through this book of sheet music she had with her. Mostly just kept laughing and chatting with Leo…flirting. And he seemed to be into her too but…shy about it? Kind of seemed oblivious to the fact that she liked him too.

              So. Sera might’ve made sure he knew about it, once they was walkin’ back to his place—he wanted to change, clean up before heading to the Rainier home for dinner.

              “What, Rose? She’s…nah, she’s not- she’s just nice. Dating’s…pretty tricky for me.”

              “She’s totally into you, what’s the problem?” Oh frick! “Shite, I’m sorry, crap. You um…haven’t come out to her?”

              Leo friggin’ blushed! “She was um…kind of the first person in my group of friends that I did come out to…sort of helped me with coming out to the rest.”

              “…then what’s the problem?” Sera asked.

              “I dunno, I’m just…I mean she can’t- you’re sure she likes me?” Sera nodded. Chick laughed  _way_ too much at all of Leo’s jokes, and he was a funny guy, but he wasn’t that damn funny. “Ellie seems to think so too, huh. I guess I’m just worried it would mess things up. She’s just amazing, you know? I’d hate to lose her friendship. And even though she knows…I don’t know if she knows knows—what if we do get together and things start moving forward and then she realizes she isn’t  _actually_ down for what I got goin’ on?” he stopped, “Shit, you’re like thirteen-“

              “Fourteen thanks, I know how sex works,” Sera rolled her eyes. Hadn’t exactly had it, but she got the gist. “I get being nervous and not wanting to mess things up. But I mean…I dunno. That sounds like you being insecure in yourself instead of actually being worried she’s not going to be into you. She clearly is, and she knows, which…I mean unless she’s a total ditz, then yeah, she knows what you’ve got ‘goin’ on’. She seems like she’s pretty smart.”

              “She’s a genius on the violin, I swear-“

              “Oh do you now? Ohhh Rose’s such a genius, she’s so nice and understanding, and gorgeous mwah mwah mwah!” Sera teased.

              “Alright! Maybe I’ll…try asking her out. Maybe. You’re a real brat, you know?”

              “Starving brat—get changed will you?” Sera asked as they approached the boy’s dorm.

              “Alright, I’ll be back in a sec—stay right here.”

              He was back real fast, different shirt, smelled like maybe he sprayed somethin’ that kind of smelled like citrus, not too bad. Slicked his hair back. Kind of looked weird—not bad weird, just had a funny expression on his face.

              “Everything all good?” Sera asked. Oh shit! Had his roommate been in? She hadn’t even thought about-

              “…yeah. I think everything’s fine,” Leo said, still seemed a bit spaced out but he shrugged and offered his arm to Sera, “Alright, shall we?”

              Sera linked arms with him and they headed back ‘round to the Professor’s office to see if he was ready to leave for the day. Guy was still poring over a great honking book he only looked up from when Sera said,

              “Oi, ‘m right starvin’ over here.”

              “Oh! Oh my dear girl, I do apologize. Time got away from me—we’d best get a move on then, Maggie will be expecting us home soon. Mister Thompson, you’re looking very dapper this evening,” he complimented. “Let’s go see how the others are getting on. Little Ellie had a spelling test, did she not?”

              “History,” Sera said, oh cripes, she really hoped it went well.

              “Sera!” Ellie greeted—running from the house, friggin’ she must have been waiting and watching for when they came on the street, Sera let go of Leo’s arm to crouch and catch the girl as she collided with her, oof! “Hi! I missed you! How was your day? Papa said you weren’t feeling good earlier,” she pouted a bit, pressing her hand against Sera’s forehead. “But you didn’t come home early, so…you’re okay now, right?”

              “Oh yeah sweets, I just um…got a little overwhelmed is all.” She wasn’t real sure how to explain it to a kid and she didn’t want Ellie worrying-

              “A panic attack?” Inky asked, friggin’ how in the hell- Sera nodded. “I’m sorry—I used to get those sometimes too, not so much anymore though!”

              “…seriously?”

              “Uh-huh.”

              “Oh, honey, you’re only tiny babe, what you got on you that worried you so much?” Leo asked, concerned, smoothing back the girl’s hair.

              She thought about it a bit, “I used to be real afraid um…I had to move around a lot when I was littler? And um…usually if I stayed anywhere too long I’d get kicked out. So when I first came to live with my papi and Maggie, I was always afraid I was going to do something to get kicked out or someone was going to come and take me away.”

              “I’d kick anyone’s ass if they tried to take you away,” Sera assured her, squeezin’ the girl a bit in a hug, “you don’t worry about that none anymore, do you Ink?”

              “Not so much, sometimes, but not enough to get worked up over or anything, Healer Marigold really helps me!”

              “’m glad Ink,” Sera said, “I’m thinkin’ about seeing someone too—so no getting worried over me, okay?” she intoned.

              Ellie nodded, "So you two ended up having good days?" she asked, and Sera and Leo nodded, yeah, so, she looked up to her grandpa, "Abuelo! How was your day?"

              "It was marvelous!" David proclaimed, "I got to wake up to your beautiful abuelita, my assistants were a great help in my work today, I got so much research done, and now I get to come home with one brilliant mija, and see my other brilliant mija—how did your history test go?"

              "I got an 'A'! Russel and Ciel helped me study a little more before our test, it was really fun!"

              "Excellent!" David cheered.

              "Way to go babe!" Leo encouraged.

              “That's amazin' Inky!" Sera said, then, "How’s dinner coming along? Does Maggie need help?”

              Ellie pulled back and took Sera’s hand in one, and Leo’s in the other, “Our Maggie needs so much help! There’s no way she can eat all the food she made all by herself!”

              It was an awful lot, huge fluffy breadsticks because…yeah who didn’t need a whole loaf of bread to go with their meal? And the lasagna was amazing! Felt kind of bad they started without Thom but Cyril let the guy get a little more sleep in before he had to get up and get ready for work.

              “Sweetheart!” Thom greeted, when he got up, doling out kisses to the top of Sera and Ellie’s heads before he took a seat at the table, “there’s my girls. And Leo, sorry to miss out on so much of your visit, how’ve you been, son?”

              “Pretty good, semester’s going well class-wise, got a kickass new TA,” Leo said, winking to Sera, then “…and for some reason, my roommate informed me he'll be avoiding me from now on, I stay out of his way, he'll stay out of mine, 'as promised'?”

              “Awe, how come?” Ellie asked, overlapping.

              “Really? Holy crap, that’s amazing!” Sera enthused, “s’not sad, sweets," she assured Inky, "His roommate was a jerk.”

              “A jerk? To Leo?” Ellie pouted at that, then stood up in her chair, “Where is he? I wanna fight him! Did he hurt you? Was he really mean?”

              “Slow your roll there, cutie, it’s all good,” Leo assured. “Your uh…papas scared him off I think.”

              “I just made him clean up his own mess,” Cyril shrugged.

              “And I…was merely visiting my handsome husband. Might’ve said hello or something to a bloke he pointed out,” Thom supposed.

              "I wanna fight him!" Ellie complained, "How come papis got to fight him and I didn’t?!” she wanted to know.

              “You know what babe?” Leo said, “He gives me any more trouble, I’ll totally let you at ‘im.”

              “Kay!” she agreed, kind of angrily, sitting back down in her seat with about as much attitude as Sera’d ever seen from her, frig! Inky did  _not_ like people messin’ with her friends, huh?

              “I hope we didn’t overstep,” Thom worried.

              “I mean I’m not mad,” Leo shrugged, “I just feel badly you guys stepped in is all. You’ve all been really good to me.”

              “Why didn’t you say this young man was giving you so much trouble?” Maggie wondered. “You had to live with him, my boy, that can’t have been pleasant. Dangerous, even—we would have helped you sooner if we’d known.”

              “You’ve all been so good to me, I mean I didn’t want to be ungrateful, you know? And it wasn’t…I mean I’ll sleep a lot easier now, but it wasn’t unbearable.”

              “Pretty unbearable not feeling safe in your own bed,” Sera said, “Hopefully he won’t bother you anymore.”

              “If he does…” Thom intoned.

              “I’ll let you know,” Leo promised. “Thanks.”

 

* * *

 

              Sera felt a lot more capable with it as her first week wound down to a close, and um, Thom and Cyril, they got Sera an appointment with the campus counseling center, went with her—both of them!—for her first appointment ‘cause she might’ve been just a little bit nervous. She didn’t ruddy know what to even do, like what? Was she just supposed to have a word vomiting session like she had with Maggie the day they met?

              Apparently, she was free to do that, but Healer Jordin, she made sure Sera knew she was free to say as much or as little as she wanted, and they would figure out what worked and what didn’t. She wasn’t real interested in usin’ potion on a regular basis, if she could help it. But she did get a prescription for something that would help if she had a panic attack she couldn’t come down from herself, but…she had more tools for that now. Sort of been doing some of them all along—grounding was similar to her math thing, doing something simple to focus herself and bring her back into the moment. And she knew if she did get overwhelmed she had people who would help her, listen to her vent even if it was something stupid. Though...maybe the things she was worried about weren't stupid. They never made her feel like they were.

              Though she was real worried when Thom was real quiet all night, 'bout the end of her second week at work. He hadn't talked much at breakfast when she thought about it, but she'd just sort of chalked that up to his just getting off work. He didn't have any work tonight, he'd taken it and the rest of the weekend off.

              "Um, hey Thom?" Sera checked on him after dinner was over, he'd just been sitting at the kitchen table by himself, staring into space, hands around a mug of coffee that had to be ice cold by now. His eyes didn't move from whatever spot on the wall he'd been staring at as he tilted his head up in her direction when she spoke, and he sort of jumped a bit before his eyes met hers and there was a ghost of a smile at his lips,

              "Hey button, what's up?"

              "What's up with you?" she wondered back gently, "You okay? You've been quiet, um...is everything alright?" she asked.

              Oh frig, it sort of felt like...like maybe this was when the other shoe was about to drop. Maybe Lady had figured out a way to mess this all up for her, or- or maybe something bad was happening, like Thom lost his job or...or maybe he was sick or something-

              "Oh, sorry baby girl, just had a bit on my mind um...sit down with me a minute?" he asked, so she did, taking the seat next to his, worrying at her lip. He smiled a bit, more genuinely as he reached out and took her chin in hand, thumb running along over the bump of her chin, it was a motion that pulled her lip down a bit so it didn't have a tooth pressing into it, made her smile a bit. "Stop that, it's nothing serious, I'm sorry," he sighed, dropping his hand to rest on the table top. "I tell you about Liddy?"

              Kind of? She'd been mentioned a time or two since she'd moved in. "Your little sister, right?"

              Thom nodded. "Tomorrows her birthday. She passed when she was eight, but I still do a little something every year, if you’d like to join us? Ellie-girl and me, we spend the day together as a family, she’s always loved it, we have a good bit of fun, bring some cheer to the occasion, it…I’m worried it sounds weird and you’ll feel uncomfortable—if that’s the case then by all means, don’t mind us, you’re free to spend your day off however you’d like, if you have plans we’ll make sure you get around safe-“

              “Don’t got any plans,” Sera assured. Frig, she- she was relieved…yeah, she’d gotten a bit ahead of herself, huh? “Except for spending the day with you ‘n Inky and whoever else. If you don’t mind me joinin’ in on your sister stuff, I’d um, love to. She’s important to you so she’s important to me.”

              “’course, we’d love to have you join in. It’ll be fun, promise. Go enjoy your bath honey.”

              She would, end of the week, she and Inky was both beat, just exhausted, so bathtime meant sneakin’ in cold drinks, and slippin' into a warm bubbly tub, they’d just soak and relax and eat from the bath cookie tin—this time  _full_  of cookies…friggin she helped make herself! Sera! Maggie taught her! Just out of the blue, the other night, she’d been working on making some for the tin and let Sera help her, showed her how. And they actually turned out good! Inky said they were the best! Which was probably just her being sweet but…they were kind of the best, definitely the best Sera’d ever had, loads better than the pish Lady always use to try passing off as her own.

              They got to sleep in like most weekends, which was nice, only they didn’t wake to the smell of breakfast—they were going out!

              But not to breakfast, at least not at first. Everyone—Maggie, David, Cyril, Thom, even Sammy! They all got ready and went out as a family. First stop, a flower shop to pick up an order Thom put in.

              A huge ass order for peonies. Couple dozen of them or more, and when they were all laid out on the florist’s counter, Thom picked one out and turned to Sera,

              “I believe the first one, I’ll gift to our newest addition to the family,” Thom said, carefully tucking the flower behind Sera’s ear, pressing a kiss to her head as she blushed, frig, “Thank you for joining us, sweetheart.”

              “’course. Thanks for the uhh, flower. They’re pretty,” Sera said.

              Thom nodded, picking two more out, kneeling to tuck one behind Ellie’s ear, “And of course we’ve got one for Ellie-girl,” he said, dropping a kiss to her hair before he rose up and handed the third to Maggie, “And one for mother,” pressed a kiss to her cheek before he started passing out bundles of flowers, “Alright—so, here’s the deal for Sera-doll. Every year, we get as many flowers as Liddy would be years old, and we give them out as we go through the day, to anyone, especially if it seems like they need a little cheering up.”

              “Got it!” Sera said. That was sweet, didn’t really feel like they were marking someone’s death even, if that made any sense? Just honoring something pure, some goodness someone left behind. Liddy must’ve been a real sweetheart, kinda like Inky.

              Oh…oh if anything ever happened to Inky, Sera wasn’t sure what she’d do. She wasn’t sure she could stand here decades from now passing out flowers to make people happy for her. Thom was…real tough, to go through something like that, lose someone so important to him and put such a brave spin on it, turn it into something so good, decent. And Maggie, frig, she- she lost her  _daughter_. Sera couldn’t even imagine having kids of her own someday, and she never really realized just how much  _love_ could be there—Maggie made it feel like Inky and Sera were people that made up her whole world. To have had a daughter and lost her, that had to be beyond the worst kind of pain.

              They went for breakfast at this little cafe near Maggie’s office, David excused himself, gotten distracted by something that caught his eye in the bookshop’s window display. Samson was antsy, just bored or somethin’ so Inky ran around with the pup, Cyril and Thom following after her to keep an eye on them.

              “Um…you’re okay, right Maggie?” Sera checked since they were alone. “Are you…” she felt friggin’ weird, clumsy checking on the woman, this was stupid, of course she was, “sad?”

              Maggie took a breath, considering before she answered, “I am. There’s a level where I’m always sad, to have lost Liddy. Ashamed. I think about it every day. Today, however, after these last few years having Thom back in my life, is a day I’m…less sad, I can put effort into something positive for the baby I failed.”

              Oh…oh shite, “It wasn’t your fault,” Sera immediately defended.

              Maggie gave her a rueful grin, laid a hand over Sera’s on the table, “Oh sweetheart, I’m sorry, but I can assure you that unfortunately…it was entirely my fault. My little girl was sick, and if I’d been a better person, if I hadn’t gotten caught up in the horrible things I was about at the time…if I’d been a proper mother to my children, my daughter would have likely survived her illness, may even be here to this day, celebrating her birthday. I haven’t always been reliable, or a good person even, Sera.”

              “I’m sorry,” Sera offered. Sorry Maggie felt that way…or that any of that was true, sorry if she’d hurt the woman by bringing it up, crap.

              “I am too. I am, however…I’m glad to have Ellie in my life, and maybe if things had been different, we never would have met and she- Maker she might not be alive today if she hadn’t crossed paths with Thom. And I’m so glad to know you sweetheart. I’ve always been blessed far more than I deserve.”

              Sera worried at her lip, “You’re…I’m sorry you used to be a bad person, but you’re a real good person now. And I’m glad I know you. I think…Liddy sounds like she was a good person, and she must’ve loved you a lot, I think if she knew the sort of woman you’ve become, she’d be really proud. Inky always talks like you hung the moon, and I’m pretty sure you’ve got Professor convinced you’re responsible for the sun coming up each morning, way he rhapsodizes.”

              Maggie smiled at that, almost laughin’ even, “He’s a sweet man. Ohh, if I’d been into his sort when I was younger? If I’d known better?” she shook her head. “I’m very lucky.”

              Sera felt lucky. Holy crap was she blessed. They spent the whole day together, ate out every meal, tipped well, and left their waiters and waitresses with flowers—friggin made their days! Gave out flowers all over the place, mothers that might not have gotten flowers in forever, shop keeps, people at the park, this little girl that fell down on the sidewalk and scrapped her knee up something awful, Cyril took a look at it, he always had a little something on him for emergencies, got her knee cleaned and bandaged and sent her and her mother and sister off with flowers.

              And Sera…frig, Inky  _was_ a dirty little matchmaker! They was almost out of flowers, day was close to winding down, they’d had dinner downtown at this little restaurant down the street from home and Inky was all ‘oh gosh! Golly gee, it’d be great to get some hot chocolate!’ friggin! Yeah hot chocolate was good anytime but!

              Hot chocolate girl! The adults waited outside ‘cause Inky said she and Sera were big girls who could handle getting the family their drinks all by themselves—and then she looked up at Sera all big eyes and, “Seeeeeera! You’re the best at ordering, would you mind doing it for us please? I’m sorry I’m just feeling a little shy, you know,” she shrugged.

              Sera didn’t know, ‘cause she was a moron! Didn’t realize until she was up at the counter with Ellie behind her and hot chocolate girl waiting to take her order, the dark skinned, raven-haired Human girl was all…pretty and smiley and shite, that Sera’d been ruddy set up!

              “Hi! Good to see you again—Sera, right? The usual?” hot chocolate girl asked cheerily, her hair bounced a bit when she quirked her head to the side, wowza it was pretty, curly, littler curls than Inky’s hair, teeny tiny ringlets of hair sort she let hang loose around her head, ‘cept she used a clip to hold part of it back from her face on one side.

              “Uhhh hi.”

              “Hi,” the barista giggled.

              “Hi…” had ‘hi’ pretty well covered, “um I’ll have m-my usual, er, Inky too—Ellie,” Sera corrected, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb.

              “That’s a cute nickname,” the girl encouraged, jotting down their order, “anything else?”

              “We got more people with us waiting outside—whole family day,” Sera nervously said, “Uhhh so, one hot chocolate, with whipped cream,” Cyril was a child, “and three black coffees.”

              “So three hot chocolates, two with whipped cream,” Sera liked whipped cream, but she was a kid, kind of! So duh! “and three black coffees?”

              “Yep!”

              “Alright, just sit wherever and I’ll call your name when your order’s up,” she said.

              Inky was friggin’ exasperated with her when they took a seat at a table near the counter,  _“Sera!”_  the girl whispered, frustrated.

              “What?” Sera whispered back.

              Ellie rolled her eyes at her! She hadn’t even known Ellie knew how to roll eyes!

              “Order for Sera,” hot chocolate girl called to them.

              “Go,” Ellie shooed her quietly, motioning for- well frig she was supposed to go get their stuff by herself?! “Go flirt with hot chocolate girl!” she whispered.

              She guessed she was. Sera got up, went back to the counter, frick was…was she old enough to have a heart attack? She was pretty sure she was having a heart attack. Hot chocolate girl was  _real_ smiley, blushin’ real pretty, was it legal to be so pretty? Sera was pretty sure there was a law out there somewhere.

              “My name’s Angela, by the way. Angela Johnson,” hot chocolate- er, well, Angela, Sera guessed, said. Pointin’ a bit at the sign- oh frig! _Johnson’s_ Coffee! Her parents owned the place or- or whatever, holy crap!

              Oh wait, oh frig, Sera turned real read, ears, cheeks, pretty sure her entire body was just  _red_ , cause she friggin heard Inky call her ‘hot chocolate girl’, “Sorry uhh…Angela’s a real pretty name.”

              “Thanks, so is Sera…pretty girl too,” Angela said, leaning over the counter a bit as she scooted their drinks Sera’s way, though she took up one of the paper cups, and a pen, scratchin’ something on the side of the cup before setting it down in front of Sera, “So, extra whipped cream for the pretty girl…and my schedule, the hours I’m free during the week.”

              Sera’s mouth sort of worked for a sec…as in it didn’t work, frig’ she- she was-, Sera let out this nervous gigglin’ sound that would probably haunt her stress dreams later, ‘cause she sounded like a total idiot but she did work around to checkin’ out the side of her cup, and… “You’re off Tuesday after six? I can be off then too. Maybe we can go get dinner?”

              “Definitely.”

              “Cool, I’ll pick you up…six on the dot or…?”

              She hummed a bit, thinking it over, “Better make it six thirty—apartments upstairs, so I’ll meet you out front.”

              “Cool.”

              “Cool,” Angela agreed.

              “Um, here—kind of a story, but we’re passin’ out flowers today, sort of a thing to cheer people up? So…here,” Sera said, turning back to the table, Inky’d laid the bouquet they still had left on top of the table and Sera took one up and handed it to the other girl, “have a good weekend. I’ll see you Tuesday.”

              “Unless I need hot chocolate before then!” Ellie piped up, “Because a girl has needs!”

              “Unless Inky needs her hot chocolate fix before then, yeah,” Sera snorted, Angela was real smiley over it, gigglin’ at Ellie.

              “She’s cute. It’s nice you’re always looking out for her, it’s really sweet,” Angela said, biting her lip as she accepted the flower from Sera, “Thanks. I’ll see you Tuesday, or at your next irregularly scheduled hot chocolate splurge.”

              The adults was waiting on them when they came out, Ellie and Sera passing off their drinks though,

              “That took a minute, everything okay?” Cyril asked. “You’ve still got money, right honey?”

              Sera nodded. She just got paid the other day, “Yeah I’m good…um…” oh frig they- they’d sort of talked about her dating? But she wasn’t sure-

              “Sera’s got a date!” Ellie enthused.

              Maggie’s mouth dropped open in delighted surprise, “Oh my goodness! Honey great job! With little Angela Johnson?” Sera nodded, blushing, she was just…gonna keep blushing for forever probably, “Oh, she’s a sweet girl—I assisted her father in- he’s a client, a good man, only thing mean about him is he brews a mean cup of coffee.”

              Hot chocolate was pretty good too, extra whipped cream and all. They didn’t head for home just yet, going toward the park they usually went to, play around or do self-defense training or let Sammy blow off steam when his walks weren’t quite enough to wear him out.

              There was a little pond in the middle of the park, Ellie promised it was super fun to splash around in when the weather was warm—Samson already gave zero craps, he’d go splashin’ whenever, weather didn’t bother the fluffy boy. No swimming today though, Samson even knew it, laid down by the waterside real attentive. Everyone sat down by the water, the last of their flowers spread out between them all.

              “So, this is entirely up to you honey, some of us sit in quiet reflection and just drop a flower in the water, some of us say a little something,” Thom explained as he handed Sera her flower.

              “Thanks.”

              He nodded, then faced the water and cleared his throat. “Hey Liddy-girl. Lots of big things happenin’ this year—Ellie’s doing so well in school, just about lost the last of her baby teeth,” he huffed a laugh when Inky smiled real big show off the little gap in the bottom row of her teeth, “You met David last year, he actually managed to trick mother into marriage—she’s fallen for the trap too.”

              “Oi!” Cyril said.

              “Shhhhh,”’ Professor pled, “I’m just scarping by here, thanking my lucky stars she hasn’t realized the trickery yet. I figure two more years of coasting and she’ll be so used to having me around she won’t find it worth trouble of getting rid of me.” Maggie giggled, shaking her head and shushing the men. “I’ve married the most wonderful man, baby girl. You would certainly approve,” she promised, sniffling quietly, seemed to be about all she could say.

              “Cyril’s still killin’ it in his college courses,” Thom went on, “he graduates in the fall so, this time next year, we’ll have a certified Healer in the family.”

              “Maker willing,” Cyril said.

              “Biggest thing though, that’s happened for this family is that we grew,” Thom said, “we’ve been blessed to have another little love come into our lives. Her name is Sera. She’s fourteen—goin’ on fifteen, you two got birthdays real close to each other, Liddy-girl. And she’s amazing—we met because she’s just _brilliant_ , about to start her first year as a student, a college student, at Markham University, studying in David’s department, she already works as a TA. We’re so proud of her. She’s beautiful, smart, kind—an incredible big sister to Ellie, looks after our girl. We love her so much, grateful to have her in our lives.”

              Sera just wasn’t ever going to be _not_ red again, was she? That…frig, that was really nice, incredibly kind.

              “Sera’s the best!” Ellie enthusiastically informed her, “Tia Liddy—you loved Thom sooooo much, which yeah I totally get, he’s my papi! I love him so much too! But he was your big brother, and now I have a big sister and I love her like! The most! She’s my best friend in the whole world! I mean I love her even more than I love my mag-“ more of a ‘j’ sound there Ellie stopped and fixed it, brain fart huh? Almost mispronounced Maggie? “my Maggie! And my papas and my abuelo. Sorry!”

              “It’s okay,” Cyril accepted the demotion with grace, “I love you girls more than these old farts too.”

              Ellie giggled at that, squeezing Sera’s hand a bit as she said, “We always have so much fun together and she’s always looking out for me and making sure I’m safe and happy!”

              “You make me happy too Ink,” Sera said, “You um…you all do. you’ve all done so much for me, er-“ she looked to the water, “um…your family has done so much for me, given me so much. I live in a house where I feel safe—like, all the time. And they…they love me and watch out for me and teach me things. They make sure I feel heard and understood and- I dunno, just, they’re the amazing ones. I’m really lucky so…thanks for having such an amazing family and sharing them with me.”

              Thom dropped a kiss to her hair, “Thanks honey.”

              They dropped their flowers in the water, watched them float for a bit.

              “Okay my babies,” Maggie said, running her hands over her face real quick before she pushed to her feet, “let’s get our girls home.”

              Ellie nodded, though she held her arms up to Thom when they all stood up, and then man chuckled, crouching to get a good grip up under her arms and hoist her high on his hip with a bit of a groan, “Alright, there we go Ellie-girl, done tuckered you out, huh?”

              “Nuh-uh,” Ellie hummed negatively…but uh, yeah, she was wiped, eyes already closed as she rested her head on her papi’s shoulder.

              Sera took Samson’s leash and Cyril came and threw his arm around her shoulders, holding her close as they made the walk home.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Antivan:  
> Crees que deberiamos decirle?=Can we tell her?  
> Debemos asegurarnos de que sea seguro=we shouldn't unless it's safe.
> 
> End Notes:  
> *Empress Celene is heavily connected to the University of Orlais, she loves the university and is a generous contributer to their pockets and their in general quality as a school, expanding their feilds of study, and their student demographic. The first Elf to ever attend the University of Orlais does so because Celene personally combats their Humans-only policy and persuading them to make exceptions for extremely talented Elves.
> 
> *Conversation between Sera and Cole while running around DA:I gives us this clue that Sera's name was once Seda which is a Antivan (Spanish) word/name (Sera isn't a common way to spell what's usually Sarah or Sara, but if her given name is Seda it makes sense she'd just replace the d with an r and keep the rest, ya feel?)
> 
> *Not a lawyer! But, IRL emancipation can be granted on the basis of being admitted to a school of higher learning. This would totally not swing in real life, but I made the bare minimum effort of trying to make it a lil bit reasonable. 
> 
> *Still not a lawyer but, at least in the US, legal documents you have to send in the mail are binding the moment they're postmarked, so if you have a deadline to get something signed by, you just have to have it postmarked and in the mail the date its due, it doesn't particularly matter that it won't be where it's supposed to go for a few days after the deadline.
> 
> *Cloudreach 4th is the birthdate I give Sera in TSTT.
> 
> *Not a scientist! But this particular experiment actually uses crushed up aspirin, I substituted with refined powdered Elf Root.
> 
> Thanks so much! <3


	4. Emmauld/Rainier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Picking up where we left off!  
> Sera's first date! Her first Birthday with the Rainier's!  
> And Inky *might* just have a secret!
> 
> In which: things happen and we meet a few more DA:I buddies along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!  
> Here's Chapter 4 of 5! Of a fic I planned to be 2 chapters, but here we are.
> 
> Chapter 23 of To Seek the Truth is underway and will be posted later this coming week! In the meantime, enjoy!
> 
> I love you, you beautiful member of person-kind, and I hope you're having an amazing day <3

          “You know where all the guard posts are, ‘round where you’re taking your girl?” Thom asked…again, for like the third time today.  
          “She’s not my girl,” Sera said, cheeks reddening as she rattled off, “there’s one on 5th, two more along Redding, and another on Mellow Brook. I run into trouble, go and give your name and guard number.”  
          “Good job honey, remember you don’t owe anyone anything—someone makes you girls feel uncomfortable or unsafe, don’t be afraid to just walk away. Cyril or myself will be waiting down the block from the coffee shop to pick you up when you’re done, something happens and you end things early, you’ve got your key?”  
          “Uh-huh,” Sera said, patting her jacket pocket just to make sure as they made their way down town, Thom was walking her to where they’d meet up later. After her date.  
          She had a friggin’ date. How the hell did that happen?  
          Inky. Girl was giggly about it all day,  _Sera’s got a daaate, Sera’s got a daaate!  
_          Dumb! She didn’t know shite about datin’!  
          Kind of did? Thom and Cyril and Maggie and David had been droppin’ pointers all weekend long, Inky too…the frig a kid know about dating?  
           _Lots!_  Ellie’d insisted. She went on dates with Russel all the time!...the bear, Sera was pretty sure. Pretty sure. She  _did_ help Sera with the whole ‘getting ready’ thing, red and black tartan trousers, matchin’ suit jacket, black blouse—Inky said black was best for spills, which yeah, good tip. Shiny black flats she wore for Chantry. Extra shiny ‘cause Ellie’d cleaned them up for her.  
          “You’re sure you’re good on money?” Thom checked as they reached the street corner, just down the block from the coffee shop.  
          “Yup!” good on money…not too sure about her stomach though, holy  _crap_ she was nervous. It wasn’t sexy to throw up on the first date, was it though? Probably not…though no one had specifically advised against it. Cyril  _had_ advised to be mindful of her ‘button nose’ when kissing—tilting your head to make sure you don’t knock noses or something…no throw-up advice though. Damn these people were sending her out here blind!  
          “Hey,” Thom said as they came to a stop, resting his hands on her shoulders, waitin’ till she looked up at him, “this is going to be fun, I’m really proud of you for putting yourself out there. Try to relax and just be yourself—rumor has it, you’re pretty amazing. Have fun and be safe—you need us, you know where to find us, don’t hesitate to come home if you need to.”  
          …she was pretty sure nothing too bad was gonna happen…and Cyril and Thom had the house to themselves for the first night in a while, so… “If it’s still early I’ll just crash Inky’s date or somethin’,” she was out on a little grandparents/granddaughter date, dinner, dessert…knowin’ the Professor, deadass, the guy was gonna take them dancing.  
          “Alright,” Thom smiled, giving her shoulders a squeeze before pressing a kiss to her forehead, frig! “Love you—have fun, be safe.”  
          “Thanks,” thanks? ‘Love you’ ‘Thanks’, what the hell was wrong with her? “you too.” That…was a little better? It could at least apply to all three things—love you, have fun, be safe. “Don’t know that fun and safe go very well together,” she supposed—fixed it! Kinda! Separated it from the ‘you too’! Frick she was a whimp. She did…she did love them. Friggin’ loved Inky with just about all her heart it felt like. Maggie too. And definitely Cyril, cripes, he was the best. So was Thom. And even David. So why couldn’t she just  _say it?  
_          She was already movin’ forward, halfway down the street…though Thom was still on the corner watching out, making sure she made it to the coffee shop safe, friggin’…she could turn around and say it, right? Blah! Dumb! She’d  _said it_  before right? Never to Lady, duh, but like…she had to have said it to Inky at least once, right?  
          …no. Not even Inky. She’d accepted that they loved her well enough. But she’d never said a thing about her loving them back, she- that wasn’t right, was it? Inky’d said it like, friggin’ day one almost! Day one of Sera living with them, anyway. And Cyril and Thom had both said it—first day she went to work, and they…they both said it on their own from time to time. Maggie too. Even David had said it! In passing, she’d made him laugh real hard, enough he had to wipe at his eyes as he caught his breath ‘ooohh Sera, I do love you’, just! Real casual! So why couldn’t  _she_ just say-  
          “Hey…hello?” Angela waved a hand before Sera’s face, “You in there, pretty Sera?”  
          Sera jerked a bit, startled, hadn’t even realized she’d made it to the coffee shop- “I love you!”  
          Angela’s eyes went a little wide in her head…starin’ at Sera like she’d grown a second one, and Sera probably needed a second one now that she slapped her hands over her mouth, frick! Ouch! But!  
          “Oh my god, Maker’s breath, I swear I wasn’t talking to you!” There wasn’t ruddy anyone else around to be talking to! “I wasn’t talking to anyone I was just- I was thinking, overthinking and I didn’t- I don’t even remember walking up the block, I just totally spaced I’m so so sorry-“  
          Girl giggled, offered up a pretty smile that looked like relief, and she rested a hand on Sera’s arm, “Hey, that’s okay, I can be a real space case sometimes too. Here,” other hand on her other arm, Angela sort of pushed and pulled, prompting Sera to turn about in a circle before rotating to face her again, and then Angela pulled back and spun about on the ball of her foot and said, “Hey, Sera! So glad you could make it, thanks for picking me up.”  
          Oh…oh frig that was just… Sera snorted, smiling a bit as she said, “Hey, glad you’re giving me the chance to pick you up.” Uhhh oh! Oh yeah, duh,  _be sure to compliment her_ , Maggie’d said,  _yeah! Tell her she’s pretty!_  Ellie encouraged. Sera went with…oh, wow, she’d dressed up a bit. It was getting closer to Cloudreach now, so it was warmer now, Springy even, and Angela was wearing white flats and a bright yellow sundress that fell to her knees, white flowers bloomin’ all over the skirt, sleeveless, held up by this thin braid of fabric that went behind her neck. Huh, she had this goldish heart shaped locket she wore—Sera’d noticed the chain for but never seen what it was for. Oh, hair was still parted the way it usually was, except her barrette looked like three yellow flowers instead of the oval black or brown ones she usually used. “You look amazing.”  
          Holy crap, even more amazing when she got all blushy at the compliment, “Thanks, not too bad yourself. You have the coolest jackets,” Angela said, reaching out and adjusting Sera’s lapel a bit, “red’s a good color on you.”  
          “Thanks. Pretty sure every color’s a good color on you though.”  
          Angela smiled real wide at that, “Well damn, Sera, okay,” she nodded, worrying at her lip a bit before asking, “So…what’re we into tonight?”  
          Okay…okay she could do this,  _you gotta hold her hand so you don’t get separated! And she’ll feel really safe! And it’s romantic!_ Ellie’d said, David supplied  _ahh yes, it is absolutely encouraged to escort your date, take her by the hand, or offer her your arm_  friggin’ he offered Inky his arm and paraded her around the living room like a total dork! Sera hoped it didn’t come off weird but yeah, it did seem like the polite thing to do and Ellie had a point about not getting separated, so Sera offered her arm and Angela grinned, accepting it as Sera said, “I was thinking dinner—any concerns?”  
          “I…am entirely allergic to everything Nevarran…except probably the people, never met a Nevarran before though.”  
          “Ditto,” Sera agreed, it wasn’t a favorite of hers cuisine-wise either, “Any legit allergies to worry about? I mean, I’m tryin’ to plan a killer date here, but not  _that_  killer.”  
          Angela giggled at that, assuring her, “Not a thing!”  
          “Cool—how do you feel about Antivan?”  
          “…Okay, I know I had my hesitancies earlier but if you were to say you love me again, right now, I’d say I love you too because Antivan is my actual favorite.”  
          “Great! There’s this bangin’ place a few blocks over that Inky loves, it’s real good-“  
           _“Abuelos?”_  Angela asked, and Sera nodded, yeah, that was it! She squeaked! “That’s my favorite restaurant! I usually only get to go on my birthday, it’s the one day a year dad’ll go—it’s not really his thing.”  
          “Well happy early birthday,” Sera supposed, “…or late birthday?”  
          “Early—my birthday’s not until Bloomingtide. The 20th.”  
          “Cool, mine’s Cloudreach 4th,” Sera said.  
          “Oh wow, that’s not too far off,” Angela said, “Ellie’ll be excited, she’s such a cutie and ever since she learned about birthdays, oh, she’s just in love with the whole thing.”  
          … “Learned about birthdays?”  
          Angela nodded, “I wasn’t in on her first one—back when she was turning nine, she’d never celebrated her birthday before and her papis surprised her with a party. She got the hint it’d be a yearly thing, and she invited me for the big double digits."  
          Crap! How had she not asked Inky when her birthday was?! First Day! Cool, that’d be easy to remember. “That’s sweet that they were able to surprise her.” Then, “Wait just how long have you known each other? She- she didn’t say you were friends.”  
          Angela blushed, shrugging, “I…might have asked about you, when you first started coming around? Ellie filled me in that you were going to be living with her, talked you up, and I asked if she’d keep it on the down low, that we’re friends, just…let you ask around about me if you were interested.”  
          “That! That little sneak!” Sera exclaimed, “She really…talked me up?” Angela nodded. Sera shook her head, sighing, “Frig, Ink’s the best.”  
          “Awe, wow, you really love her, huh?” Angela supposed.  
          Sera sighed, little frustrated, “Yeah, I really do.”  
          “…then why do we sound upset about it?” Angela wondered.  
          “I’m not…upset. I mean not with her, duh, I…don’t think I can really  _do_ upset with her. Like I’m pretty sure she could stab me and I’d be cool with it, she’d likely have a good reason, be trying to help me with something,” Sera huffed a laugh.  
          “So who are you upset with?”  
          “Me. It’s not important-“  
          Angela shrugged, “Hey, if it’s bothering you, then of course it’s important.”  
          So, Sera filled her in once they were seated at the restaurant, waiting on their orders. It felt dumb, trying to explain that they’d all said it, and she definitely  _felt it_ she just hadn’t said it back and it bothered her.  
          “You’ve been living with them for a while now? Where…did you live before?”  
          “I um…my parents,” she shrugged, “dunno, birth people are probably dead, I was on my own when I was real little and I got caught stealin’ food.” Angela frowned at that, resting her hand on Sera’s forearm and squeezing a bit. “You get put in an alienage* or worse for that when you’re an Elf, ya know? Cept this Lady—capital L—she steps in at the last minute because she’s sick or somethin’ and can’t have kids of her own, and for whatever reason decides to take me in.”  
          “Oh that’s-“  
          “If you’re thinking ‘nice’, don’t. It wasn’t nice. It was bad. Really really bad. Lady’s vindictive and mean. I think she mostly just saw someone tiny and different, someone she could manipulate real easy, take advantage of and she went for it. Growing up with her was…bad. Controlled everything I did, constantly picking me apart over every little thing, how I look, how I talk, who I talk to. I mean I had a growth spurt a few months back and she had me starving myself.”  
          “Oh my gosh, Sera…”  
          She shrugged. “Ellie…picked up on it, that something wasn’t right when I interviewed at Markham U. She and her family helped me get away from Lady, emancipated or whatever, and they took me in, I’ve been living with them ever since.”  
          “So…this Lady bitch, she doesn’t sound like a real touchy-feely kind of person, she never said she loved you or anything?”  
          Sera snorted, “Hell no.”  
          “So you never said anything like that to her, either?”  
          “’course not.”  
          “…so…have you ever said it to  _anyone_  before?” Angela wondered, “I mean, aside from tonight,” she teased.  
          Huh. “…no,” not that she could remember, anyway. Definitely hadn’t said it since she came to live with Lady. “I…I don’t think I’ve ever said it to anyone. Didn’t really love anyone, not while I was in Lady Emmauld’s house.”  
          “Well then, there you go,” Angela encouraged, giving Sera’s arm a squeeze, “it’s always hard to do something you’ve never done before. On a level, you don’t know how to, and on another, you probably just don’t think to. Sort of like…I mean this is dumb but...so I've never locked up the coffee shop? Dad always does it, but last night he cut his hand bad when washing up the knives at the end of the day, so he went up to handle that, and asked me to lock up. So, I locked the door, wiped up all the tables, stacked the chairs, swept, shut off the lamps, _but_ we had some guy knocking on the shop door like crazy because I left the open sign up. Woke my dad up, he was really sweet about it, made the guy coffee and sent him on his way and told me not to sweat it, but I was embarrassed. Blah,” she shook her head, “just, my point is, it’s  _normal_  not to think of doing things when you’ve never done them before, sign slipped my mind because its never been on my mind before. I think ‘I love you’ is the most used sentence in the Rainier household—they always make a point of saying love you when they go their separate ways, I mean I’m sure they toss it out on the daily, it’s habit for them, so it was way easier for them to tell you the minute they know it, than it is for you to do something for the very first time. Well,” Angela shrugged, smiling, “almost the first time.”  
          Friggin’, that had Sera blushin’ again, huffing softly, “Yeah, thanks,” she drawled. But, “…seriously, thanks. That was really smart.”  
          Angela snorted, “You’re the kid genius going to Markham University. For like, chemistry or something, right? Ellie says you’re the smartest.”  
          Sera shrugged. “Not really. I mean I’m smart, but I’ve just…spent a lot more time studying than most kids I think. I mean most people go to school for a few hours a day, they get lunch and recess and whatever, go home, maybe have a little homework or studying, then there’s weekends off, school breaks n’ pish. I didn’t take breaks, even on weekends, I mean most people have things to do then, but for me, schooling was…really the only thing I was  _allowed_  to do. Lady didn’t care what I studied as long as it kept me in the house. It was the only thing I could do to occupy my time, so I started the moment I woke up, and just did it all day, even during meals when I could. I found a real interest in science and mathematics. It was fun I could get away with, once I learned to play it smart—not get too openly excited about it in front of Lady or on her payroll—she’d let me have just about any book or research paper I wanted.”  
          Angie caught that Sera was trying to touch on it light as possible, so she smiled a bit and joked a bit, "I'm sorry…you were locked away in some old lady's house and your interests were _math_ and _science?_ You’re definitely a genius, I’m pants at that stuff—Trade, classic literature’s more my thing.”  
          “Not being good at math and science doesn’t make you dumb or anything—you probably got bangin’ grammar skills and real deep thoughts ‘bout all kinds of great literature, I know zilch about that pish,” Sera was quick to assure. Reading…well duh, she knew how to read, that’s about all she did at Lady’s, but like, literature, fiction or whatever, even real stories about adventures and things, she didn’t have much interest in them. Had a Trade tutor once, nice woman who got fired real quick for…well, being too nice, Sera guessed, maybe Lady was afraid Sera’d get ideas. She encouraged Sera to take up reading things like that—about adventures and things because it could be an escape, which sounded great, except it just always felt like mocking, getting to read about people real and fake getting to go out and do all sorts of amazing things she thought she’d never get to do. She couldn’t leave the house, let alone travel ‘round the world, doing something that mattered, doing something  _fun._ Wasn’t nothing to resent about academics though—scientists and mathematicians discovering new things they could share with her, things she could understand and in most cases do herself, new equations, new experiments…she at least had some hope someday she could do the same thing, contribute back.  
          Angela giggled at that, “Well, if you ever need help with your fancy college papers—grammar n’ pish—I’m sure I could help.”  
          “Same here,” Sera shrugged, “you ever need help with science n’ math, I’m your girl.”  
          “Already? My word Ser’ you move fast. I mean I should’ve expected as much when your first words tonight were ‘I love you’-“  
          “You know what I mean,” Sera said exasperated, blushing something fierce.  
          “Awe,” Angela giggled, finger reaching out and poking at the edge of Sera’s right ear, “that’s so cute. You know, you’re really pretty, but like wow, when you’re all smiley, blushing,” she complimented, bit shyly.  
          Sera ducked her head at that, shrugging. Waiter gave them a bit of reprieve, coming around with their orders, refills for their drinks, Sera took up a fork, picking at her rice a bit before offering, “Well, took me so long to work up the nerve to talk to you cause I’m pretty sure you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. Literally think it should be illegal.”  
          Angela’s cheeks went warm at that, “Well you haven’t really seen that many girls I don’t suppose,” she shrugged, “but thanks.”  
          It was fun, and dinner was soooo good, friggin’ amazing. And they just talked, Angela giving Sera the run down on her own school—she went to a school a few blocks from the coffee shop, they let her out earlier in the afternoons so she could help her dad with the afternoon rush, people stopping in on their breaks for a pick-me-up.  
          “So…it’s just you and your dad, then?” Sera wondered gently, didn’t wanna press into something painful. No one’d mentioned Angela’s mom at all, and she’d never seen anyone but Angela working the counter, but they usually didn’t make it there any other time except the afternoons.  
          Angela nodded. “Mom’s…” she shrugged, “she always struggled with issues, mental health wise. Bipolar disorder…possibly schizophrenia but she wouldn’t sit down with anyone to get properly diagnosed. Used to—she was stable when my dad met her, doing fine, and she was always open and honest about her struggles with him, but um…” the girl worried at her lip a bit, “pregnancy…was hard on her. She wanted to keep me and she didn’t want to risk hurting me so she followed her Healer’s advice, there’s not a lot of testing done on pregnant women, ya know? So they don’t know how certain potions will affect things. She was so scared she’d hurt me somehow she just came off of everything cold turkey, and then once she had me she just…things got really bad for her, and she was stuck in this mindset of not taking her potions, never went back on them, refused to get help. I didn’t really notice much when I was really little, my dad was always with us and he’d just take me to work with him or my grandma would watch after me, so there was always a buffer between me and mom, but that just sort of made her feel like she couldn’t be a good mother. When my grandma died my mom spiraled, it wasn’t safe, and I started actually seeing there were problems, that something was wrong, but my dad…well, he wanted to protect me, keep me safe, so, mom was ‘sick’,” she offered up air quotes, “like physically, he made it sound like, and we needed to stay away so we didn’t catch it. He moved us here, to Markham, met Maggie when we were staying in downtown’s shelter. She helped him get the loans he needed for the shop, get custody of me—he doesn’t realize I know, he just said mom ‘died’, and it was just going to be me and him now,” she shrugged. So…that was why Maggie was buttoned up about helping Angela’s dad. She didn’t want Sera blabbing to her or having some kind of big family secret to keep even though uh…the cat seemed pretty well out of the bag. “I was maybe seven? But I…I dunno, I was scared, loved my dad, realized everything happening was hard on him so I just went along with it. I used to be mad him, you know? I thought it was selfish and horrible he just left mom on her own but I came to realize before I came along, when it was just them, yeah, if she’d fallen off the wagon, he would’ve helped, been able to be there for her and help her get better, that’s what he was doing all along even when I did come into the picture, grandma was able to take care of me when he had to take care of mom. Once she was gone…it was either do what was best for mom or me, and he picked me."  
          “Wow. Gosh I’m…I’m sorry,” Sera said. “So…you haven’t seen your mom since you were real little huh?”  
          “She’s sent me a few birthday cards, I found them a few years back in my father’s things. And last year she reached out a little more directly um…dad doesn’t know? She was just  _there,_ and it’s been years and she…looks really really different, but I knew who she was the minute she walked in. I made her a coffee, took her outside to talk a minute and sent her on her way before dad could see her he’d…probably freak out if he knew she knew where we were. She was pretty…messed up. I gave her all the money I could and told her to not come back, if she wanted to be in contact with me, that’s entirely up to dad. I get that she’s sick, and she can’t help it, a lot of the things that are wrong in her life, but she…she has to at least  _try,_ she has to  _want_ to get better. But she insisted she is better, that she still doesn’t need any of the things she was using before, she doesn’t trust the Healers anymore. So…” Angela shrugged. “Sorry, that was a lot wasn’t it?”  
          “I literally started our date with my ‘I’ve never told someone I love them before’ angst. So, you definitely get a turn,” Sera assured. “Um…I mean I’m not bad off or anything, but I’ve got,” she shrugged, “Anxiety or whatever. Just leftover shite from living under Lady’s thumb, being made to feel self-conscious about every little thing apparently isn’t good for your brain—I’m only giving you a heads up in case…I would get it if you wouldn’t want to get involved with someone with, er, issues. And to say that I’ve been chattin’ up my therapist, and the Rainiers they’ve all been real uh, understanding. Something I’ve picked up is that the only person responsible for my mental health is me. Just like I’m not responsible for anyone else’s. It was good of your dad to do his best to help her, but if she’s not helping herself, that’s not his fault, it’s not his obligation to take care of her—yours either.”  
          Angela took hold of Sera’s free hand on the table top, fingers intertwining as she nodded, “Thanks for telling me. I appreciate it, but…yeah I don’t have any hang ups as far as that goes, you seem pretty awesome and I’m glad you’re getting help. And um…that does help a little. Though…while your mental health isn’t my responsibility, is there anything I should be mindful of? Like I dunno, triggers or something to try to avoid? I don’t see that as any different from your worry about taking me to eat something I might be allergic to.”  
          “I can’t really think of anything but thanks. I do um…have potion on me, if I ever had like a real bad panic attack or something?” Angela’s eyes sort of coasted over her like she were looking for where so Sera pulled open her suit jacket a bit, “Inside pocket.”  
          “Good to know. I wouldn’t want you getting hurt or sick or something, if you need help, I’ll help you.”  
          “Thanks. Um…I kind of have a suggestion? Not about me, about you and your dad?” Sera ventured, “I mean that’s a lot, your dad keepin up this lie of his to protect you, it has to wear on him, he has to be terrified you’re gonna hate him when you find out. But you did find out. And you don’t hate him. I know you might get in trouble, but maybe you should tell him you know and you respect his decision? Thom and Cyril, they…do a lot, for Inky and me, and I can see it’s a  _lot,_  but they have each other, Maggie, and David for help. But with your dad…I mean I’ve never really met the guy, but it seems like you two just have each other, right?” Angela nodded. “So…he’s there for you. You’re there for him, and maybe he needs to know that.”  
          “I hadn’t thought about it like that—that it would be hard for him keeping a secret,” Angela sighed. “Thanks.” She sort of shook herself, “wow, I mean I’ve never really talked to anyone about any of that stuff before. But you were open about your Lady thing? And then you asked and it just blah,” she gestured waving her hand before her mouth, the clear universal signal for ‘throw up’.  
          “Word vomit? Yeah, s’happened to me before, no judgement. I’m…happy to listen to you, it’s hard to just walk around with stuff like that held in.”  
          Angela nodded, then worried a bit, “She…she hasn’t tried to like, contact you or anything, right? Lady whoever, Emmauld you said?”  
          “Yeah. I mean, that’s her name—she hasn’t tried contacting me or anything…I- I don’t think she has at least,” Sera said. She…didn’t think Maggie’d keep something like that from her…but she might? Just so Sera didn’t get freaked out or something. She’d have to ask. “She was pretty pissed. But my emancipations official…almost, just about. Been workin’ for a month solid and I’ve paid my rent, so, Maggie sent in pay stubs n’ receipts and things to prove I can live outside Lady’s care just fine, we’re just waiting to hear back.”  
          Angela’s hand squeezed hers, “Hey. Maggie Rainier’s a badass. The Rainier’s aren’t going to let anything happen to you, guaranteed even if something happens, they’ve got backup plans on backup plans to keep you away from your Lady.”  
          Sera nodded, smiling her thanks. “Okay—you got anything else you need to get off your chest?”  
          “No, I think I’ll save my confessional for Chantry,” Angela quipped.  
          “Been up to no good, Angela Johnson?” the other girl giggled at that, and Sera wondered, “Wait, do you go to Chantry? The one downtown?”  
          “Yeah—big crowd, daddy and I usually sit in the back, Sunday’s really the only day we get to sleep in so we’re usually a _little_ late," she confessed.  
          “That’s the one we go to too,” Sera said.  
          “Well…maybe I’ll be a good little Andrasten and get to Chantry on time, we can sit together,” Angela ventured.  
          Sera smiled at that, yeah that’d uh…be real nice she thought, “Get your beauty sleep, I’ll save you a seat. Your dad too? I just figure you’d want to sit with him still. Thom and Cyril talk good about him, I think they’re kind of friends? He can sit with them even. Or I can just sit wherever you guys usually sit um…”  
          Angela pouted, but like sympathetically like she thought something was just too cute, “Awe, you don’t want to sit away from Ellie, huh? No problem, I’ll talk to daddy and we’ll come sit with you.”  
          “Cool.”  
          Ice cream was cool too—both literally and figuratively! Angela definitely wasn’t allergic to ice cream, so they headed to some place she knew. Annnd it was cool holdin’ hands, arms swinging a bit as they walked.  
          It was apparently a favorite of the Rainier’s. Inky was up at the counter, sitting on her Abuelo’s knee so she could reach the ice cream sundae they was splitting, though it looked like Ellie was doing most of the work, David's spoon sat off to the side, traces of chocolate ice cream left behind the only evidence he'd taken a few indulgent bites for himself. Maggie was seated in the stool next to them licking at a scoop of strawberry in a waffle cone, though she made a startled sound and covered her mouth, swinging her stool all the way around so she was facing the counter, like she was trying to hide, and she heard her whisper,  
          “Whoops! Date alert, six o’clock.”  
          “It’s five thirty-seven abuelita,” Inky piped up, confused.  
          “Shh mija,” David whispered, ducking his head a bit, propping his elbow up on the counter and resting his head in his hand, hunching over. They were ridiculous!  
          “Wow, this place is full of perfect strangers,” Sera said loudly, Angela giggling, shaking her head. “I mean I swear, I don’t know a soul!”  
          Inky let out an excited gasp, and grunted a bit with the effort of trying to push off from the counter so her and David’s stool would swivel around, took a sec for her grandpa to get with the program and let it turn ‘round to face Sera and Angela, or, apparently,  
          “Angie!”  Ellie greeted enthusiastically, “And Sera! Oh my gosh oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Hi! Oh wow, you look so beautiful Angela! I love your dress! I’m _in_ love with it! Can I marry it?”  
          “I love your dress cutie pie,” Angela insisted, poking a polka dot on the knee of Ellie’s cherry-red dress, “if we were the same size I’d totally raid your closet—I’ll save this when I grow out of it so you can have it when you’re bigger, yeah?”  
          “Really?!” Ellie squeaked, excited.  
          “Uh-huh. So, what looks good today babe? Chocolate sundae treating you right?” Angela asked.  
          “Uh-huh! Abuelo got it with  _extra_ fudge-“  
          “Broccoli,” David insisted to Maggie, “There is broccoli hidden within our ice cream I did not indulge my granddaughter in extra chocolate. Perish the thought.”  
          “I’m old not deaf, whisper all you like old man,” Maggie replied, “I heard you and your horrible, entirely unhealthy order-”  
          “Oi!” Ellie refuted, “It’s got  _six_   _entire_ cherries! That’s a _fruit!”  
_          “Ohh well pardon me, that’s practically a salad then,” Maggie chuckled, swiveling around to face Sera, “I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to crash your date, truly.”  
          “Technically we’re crashing Inky’s date,” Sera supposed.  
          “ _Actually_ —you’re  _all_  crashing my date with Miss Jennings,” Ellie informed them. “She makes the best ice cream in the world, and she will be mine!” she declared, thrusting her spoon to the air. Woman behind the counter laughed, shaking her head,  
          “Oh honey, look me up in ten years and we’ll talk,” the shop owner assured with a wink, looking to Sera and Angela, “What can I get you ladies?”  
          “Scoop of mint chip in a cone please?” Sera asked.  
          “Of course honey, you sweetheart?” she asked Angela.  
          “Strawberry cone, please?”  
          “Coming right up!”  
          “Thanks,” Sera said.  
          “Come here,” Maggie waved them over, “David has one of you, the Maker didn’t bless me with the pair of you for me to not have a grandbaby in my lap too,” she said, pulling Sera’s wrist so the girl was sitting in the woman’s lap. Okay, now her date felt a little crashed, Angela was laughing it up, “How’s it going you two? I trust you’re being a respectable young lady with only honorable intentions for my Sera, Miss Johnson?”  
          “Oh yes, Miss Rainier,” Angela assured, nodding, “It’s been lots of fun—good respectable, Maker-fearing fun.” Sera’s cheeks pinked when Angela’s hands went behind her back, the girl bouncing on her toes a bit and she was pretty sure she was crossing her fingers behind her back as she said, “And that’s absolutely all we intend to get up to tonight!”  
          “Good—I must warn you Miss Johnson if you hurt my granddaughter my vengeance will be swift and unexpected.”  
          “…isn’t you warning her kind of telling her to expect it?” Sera wondered.  
          “Swift and unexpected!” Maggie insisted. “I did not raise you to sass me, girl.”  
          “…you…you didn’t raise me.”  
          “Need to get your ears checked, honey,” Maggie said, pecking a kiss to Sera’s ear, “That’s precisely what I said.” She was just as bad as the boys sometimes!  
          “I promise not to expect it,” Angela vowed.  
          “Good girl,” Maggie smiled against Sera’s hair as she pressed a kiss to her the back of the Elf girl’s head. “Well, it looks like your orders are ready—you beautiful young ladies are welcome to join us, of course, but we understand if you’d rather sit on your own, or are you taking your orders to go?”  
          “Uhh…” Sera and Angela droned in unison, looking to one another.  
          “I didn’t get constipated for a whole week from our hot chocolate runs just for you two to waste moonlight on us!” Ellie informed them, “Go! Kiss! Elope! Rob a bank! Anything to make me almost losing my love of chocolate worth it.”  
          Sera snorted, “I think your love of chocolate’s pretty safe, sweets.”  
          “It’s just so good,” the girl lamented.  
          “Robbing a bank sounds fun,” Angela supposed, “excitement, bit of romance, securing our financial futures…”  
          “And I know a kick butt lawyer!” Sera agreed.  
          “You know I’ve never taken on a grand larceny case and I’ve been dying to get my hands on one—as long as you girls come home safe,” Maggie shrugged, letting Sera off her lap, “Have fun!”  
          They did, it was fun getting to walk and talk, eat ice cream. And it was kind of…dunno, just, wind picked up a bit, it’d been warm all day but the sun was setting and there was just a bit of chill, especially when you didn’t have any sleeves to speak of, so Angela started shivering a bit as they walked. Somehow Sera felt warmer as she handed off her half eaten cone, shed her jacket and draped it over the other girl’s shoulders, rewarded with a ‘thanks’ a shy smile.  
          It was real fun as things wound down though, getting to walk her home, to the coffee shop door and uh…well frick. She wasn’t entirely sure what to do—does she lean in? Or wait for her to? Wait, should they kiss? Like, had it gone well enough for her to want that too-  
          Huh, words were things though, so,  
          “So…you mind if I kiss you, Miss Johnson?”  
          “Only if you mind me kissing you back,” the other girl supposed with a grin.  
          So, front stoop of Johnson’s Coffee, Sera had her first kiss, with the prettiest girl in life, and life. was so. good.  
          Even if these were her final moments. Which they might be? ‘cause one kiss turned into two, and then three, and then just…not really takin’ their mouths off one another until  _someone_ turned the little gas gauge that sent all the lamps hanging in the shop burning bright, though that just revealed Angela blushing real pretty, bringing up a hand to wipe at her bottom lip as she pulled way back, shooting Sera an apologetic glance.  
          And then the coffee shop door swung open and a very muscular, very tall dark skinned man with Angela’s big brown eyes peering out of his very shiny bald head, was leaning in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest as he leveled them an assessing stare, like he was deciding just how much trouble they were in.  
          “It’s Sera, right?” he asked.  
          Sera nodded, “Y-yes Mister Johnson, sir.”  
          “Mister Johnson, sir,” he said and then he smiled, real big, this deep warm laugh hooting from his belly, “Interested in a mug of cocoa before you call it a night?”  
          She and Angela did their very best, came the closest in all the history of the world to developing telepathy, she was pretty sure. To no avail, but they tried. So, “…sure. Yes please, if it’s not too much trouble.”  
          “No trouble at all, made some up already waiting for you ladies. You have fun?” he asked as he let them in.  
          “Yeah daddy, it was really great. Sera was a real gentlelady,” Angela assured, giggling a bit as she took a seat at a table near the door, there was already mugs of cocoa sitting on it with dollops of whipped cream on top, a carafe steaming a bit. “She paid for dinner and everything—we went to Abuelo’s—I had so much pico de gallo and it’s not even my birthday!” she teased.  
          “Oh good, I suppose that saves me the trip this year-“  
          “It so does not and you know that mister!” Angela argued, poking her father in the shoulder a few times.  
          It was a little awkward, bit scary but her dad was…nice. Did a little bit of investigating, though it wasn’t bad, kind of reassuring in a way. Wanted Sera’s name confirmed, and he was a little concerned that he heard she was in college—she didn’t look quite old enough but she was pretty tall, he wanted to make sure he wasn’t letting his daughter run around with someone who was out of the acceptable age range to be dating his underage daughter. He got assurances that that so was not the case, she’d be turning fifteen just a little over a month before Angela.  
          “I’m glad you’re able to stay with the Rainier’s. They’re good people, Maggie’s…she’s amazing at her job,” Mister Johnson said, “reputation’s solid and she’s a woman of her word. Your case is in great hands, she won’t let you down. Bit young to be emancipated but you’re also a bit young for college—you start at Markham…”  
          “I work as a TA there right now, and I start school in the fall.” Oh, frig, clock was already ‘round  the six fifty mark, she agreed to meet Cyril or Thom at the corner at curfew. “Um, it’s been really great, and I’m sorry to rush off like this but I’ve got work in the morning.”  
          “Responsible,” Mister Johnson commended, “is someone walking you? We’d see you safely back.”  
          “Its either the guardsman or the campus security bloke meeting me on the corner,” Sera assured, “umm…actually, is there more cocoa in that?” she asked pointing to the carafe.  
          “Want a cup to go?” he asked.  
          “For Inky,” she explained.  
          “Ellie-bug?” he guessed, and Sera nodded. “Lemme warm this up a bit.”  
          “Thanks daddy,” Angela said as he took up the carafe and left them alone for a minute. “Sooo…”  
          “So…” Sera said.  
          “Tonight was fun.”  
          “Yeah it was.”  
          “I’ll see you Sunday…unless maybe…there’s this like…okay it might sound totally dumb," Angela said, _"but_ I get Saturdays off from like ten to two? Daddy walks me to the library a few blocks from here, it’s supposed to be like a catch up time, for me to make sure I don’t fall behind in school? But I’m usually good at getting all my work done during the week and just take the afternoon to just read or get ahead, take some me time. Maybe…you could join me?”  
          “Library date?”  
          “Library date.”  
          “I suppose its fair—I took you to your favorite place, you’ll be taking me to one of mine—libraries are kind of my thing.”  
          “Cool! This time, I’ll pick you up. Well, me and daddy.”  
          “Your dad’s pretty cool, I like him.”  
          “Yeah, he rubs off on you after a while, I guess,” Angela supposed with a giggle.  
          “I heard that, brat,” Mister Johnson called from behind the counter as he poured Ink’s cocoa.  
          “I love you!” Angela called over her shoulder.  
          “Love you back,” he said, “Alright, here’s your to-go order miss. What’s this about Sunday?”  
          “Would you and Angela like to sit with us during Chantry?” Sera went ahead and invited.  
          “I believe that can be arranged,” he agreed. “Come on hun, can I call you Sera?”  
          “Sure thing.”  
          “You can call me Jonathan,” he said, handing off her cocoa. “if you’re ready, I’ll walk you to the corner.”  
          “It’s just up the block, plus if there's trouble, I got a mean right hook,” Sera assured.  
          Johnathan let out a hearty laugh at that, clapping Sera on the shoulder. “Alright baby girl, you go on with your mean right hook,” he supposed, “stay safe, be seeing you.”  
          “Bye Sera,” Angela waved from the table as Sera headed for the door,  
          “Bye Ang’,” Sera waved back before stepping out into the street. Door stayed open though and Mister Johnson stood watch until she was safe with…  
          ‘Cyril or myself’, huh? Jeeze.  
          “Flipped a coin and just about got into a fistfight over the thing, so…for the safety of our marriage we both get the honor of picking up,” Cyril pretended to sniffle, “our precious eldest from her first- oh Maker!” he let out a dramatic put-on sob, “her first date!”  
          “If I didn’t think he’d leave me for not letting him come along, I’d’ve left him home, I promise,” Thom assured as he wrapped an arm around Sera’s shoulders. There was some kind of mutual dad-waving, Thom and Cyril offering a nod and waving to Johnathan, him nodding and waving back before heading back into his shop. “So…how’d it go?” he asked as they made their way home. "You...had a jacket on at the start of your night, right?"  
          Sera blushed, “It was nice um…just got a bit cold so..." she shrugged, "I'll get it back sometime, money, keys, potion are in my trouser pockets," she assured, venturing, "They’re sitting with us in Chantry if-if that’s okay?”   
          “Of course sweetheart,” Thom said.  
          “And um…is it okay if I go to the library with Angela on Saturday? It'd be early, from like ten til two in the afternoon, Ang' and Johnathan will pick me up.”  
          “Our little girl’s becoming a downright delinquent!” Cyril lamented teasingly, “Daytime library dates? Chantry dates? What’s next—reading to the blind orphans with no legs dates?”  
          “That’s really sweet honey,” Thom said, swatting his husband upside the head, “I’m glad you had such a nice time. Saturday sounds good, and we'll save them seats Sunday.”  
          “I’m just teasing you, button. I’m happy for you," Cyril said, "We can even invite them to lunch after Chantry if you'd like...an afternoon meal! With your families! Oh the scandal!” he declared, laughing at his own dramatics, Sera just snorted and shook her head. “Alright, I'm sorry, I'm done...I think. You think I'm bad, Ellie-girl’s a little ball of excitement waiting up for you.”  
          “That _might_  just be a regular old sugar high from the sundae the grandparents treated her to. David spoiled her big time,”  Sera laughed.  
          “Abuelos are the ones that spoil her huh?” Cyril snorted. “What’s in the cup?”  
          “…hot cocoa. For…no one. S’just to keep my hands toasty.” Ruddy felt Thom suppressing his laughter! Cyril chortled into his fist! Jerks! “Bite me!”  
          “You heard ‘er,” Thom said.  
          “Yup,” Cyril agreed.  
          Friggin! Her face got all smushed! They both swooped in and kissed her on her cheeks!  
          “You two are nuts!”

 

* * *

 

          Drakonis passed in this heady blur. It was just…  
          It was the best! Sera’s life was the best! She had this amazing family, friggin’ cool-ass job, awesome friends, and the most amazing girlfriend. Girlfriend! One word! And not in ‘just-a-friend’ way! Angela Johnson lost her freaking mind and asked her real sweet, real dorky, if Sera’d be her girlfriend after almost a month of dating.  
          Saturdays were library-date days, and from time to time one of the adults would walk them to the college, Sera was a university employee, basically a student, so…Angela had officially met their big Trade Department Library, and completely fallen in love with the place. Sera was a good bit taller than her, and she liked…she just friggin’ liked gettin’ Ang’s books for her! Carryin’ them and pish, she was glad to do it, liked doin’ it, so she did it! So it didn’t seem too weird when they got to the college library and Angela asked her real sweet if she’d please take a list of books and find them for her, set them in the order listed on the table they usually claimed. Friggin twelve books though! But Sera had a handle on the library’s filing system by now, so, didn’t take too long, just a few quick trips from the stacks to their table, they had a neat stack of books. Angela looked just a bit bewildered at it all.  
          “This might sound dumb, but it’s important and it’d be really helpful,” Angela said.  
          “Course, no problem sweets,” Sera assured, “what’cha need?”  
          “Would you mind writing down the first letter of each title? Top to bottom.”  
          …that…that was weird, was Ang’ busy today or something? Had homework that she wanted to focus on so she was trying to keep Sera busy? Or was this one of those weirdy assignments she got sometimes from high school—ruddy, awful lot of busywork Ang’ got from there, Ink too, friggin it was no wonder it took people so long to get into college! Wasted half their time just being kept busy not actually progressing in their studies. Which she supposed was the way of things, schoolin’ seemed a bit like a childminding service while parents went to work. So, if Sera could knock out some dumb busywork for the girl she fancied, yeah, that wasn’t a bad time in her book.  
          Not…not a bad time at all.  
          ‘specially once she finally got the drift once she knocked out half the sentence. First letters of the first few books? They spelled out, ‘will you be-‘ and the list Angela had handed her, when Sera looked over it backward, friggin-  
           _Will you be my girlfriend?  
_“On one condition,” Sera said, startlin’ Angela a bit, she’d been nose-deep in one of the books she’d brought along, “You gotta help me put this lot back.”  
          “Really?!” Angela asked excitedly, giggling when Sera nodded and then the Human girl let out a happy little squeak and turned about in her seat so she could lean forward and hug Sera, press an enthusiastic kiss to her cheek, “Yay! Gosh, I’m sorry, I tried to be clever with it? Cause you’re like, the smartest girl I know, in life, and I thought you’d figure it out from the list alone.”  
          “Nah, you give me a list of books? I’m getting everything on it and not asking questions—my girl’s serious about her literature.”  
          Giggling was sweet, especially when it was right against her lips, Angela kissing her soundly before helping her haul their books back. Most of them. Some of them…  
          Ang’ kept like, six of them, they was on her actual reading list, books she wanted to read. For fun. Friggin’ dork! Cute dork.  
          She'd been real excited the whole way home, couldn't wait to tell Inky and Maggie and Cyril and David and Thom-  
          But um...good news could wait. There was a note on the door from Maggie, said the abuelos had taken Ellie out, Sera was free to come join them. But...Cyril had a shift at the college this weekend so it would just be Thom around, right? Nothin' adult going on?  
          Something kind of adult going on. Nothing fun, just...kind of shitty, hard adult stuff.  
          Cyril  _wasn’t_ at work. He was home, house was dark except for the fireplace, him and Thom, they was sitting on the couch staring into space, frick, Sera’s eyes watered 'cause- 'cause the guys was ruddy  _crying_  and that- well she'd never seen the men cry and she definitely didn't like it.  
          "Thom? Cyril?"  
          The Human men startled at that, jerking a bit and a they immediately wiped at their faces, scooting away from one another, "Sera," the name sort of croaked from Thom’s throat, he had to clear it, "Hey sweetheart, honey you um, you have a good day? Johnsons walked you home safe?"  
          Sera took a seat on the couch when Cyril patted the space between them, nodding, "Yeah, I was safe, um what...what's wrong?"  
          Thom shook his head, raised an arm to rest it on the back of the couch in invitation and she scooted to lean against him, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight, pressing a kiss to her hair, sniffin' a bit.  
          "S'nothing, nothing to worry about, lovey” Cyril assured.  
          Bullcrap! "If you lot came home and I was crying on the couch all by myself, I'm pretty sure you'd try to cheer me up, make me feel safe enough to talk about whatever upset me so bad."  
          "...and once we had names, whoever was responsible would be dead,” Cyril said.  
          Sera shrugged, as much as she could smushed between them, "I know I'm a little young for a murder rap, but..."  
          Thom huffed mirthless laugh. "Nah baby girl," his arm slung over her shoulder rose to play with her hair a bit. "Grown up stuff, nothing you need to worry about."  
          "Is it...I mean you and Cyril are okay right? No one's sick or...having um...marriage issues?”  
          “Oh, Maker, of course not,” Cyril assured, “Sweetheart you put thoughts like that out of your brilliant little mind,” he intoned, pressing a kiss to Sera’s forehead before he rose to his feet and headed for the kitchen “I’m going to check on the tea, you want a cup honey? It’s your favorite.”  
          “Sure,” but…but why- “Why’re you home in the middle of your shift making chamomile tea?”  
          “Well,” he said, gathering mugs on a tray, “when I went into work today I saw something in the paper I uh…didn’t want Thom finding alone, so. Reynold’s is covering my shift, and I figured chamomile tea was due in the middle of the day in a dry house…I’ll take you out for a proper drink later babe,” Cyril promised as he poured their tea.  
          “So…” Sera prompted.  
          “You don’t need to know the specifics. But uh, your old men—Cyril and me, we used to serve in the Orlesian Military. Old friend Klaus tried talking me into starting up a mercenary crew, made up of our military friends,” he said, “and I…well I wasn’t entirely sold on the idea but I figured yeah, I’d do just that but uh…well, I met Ellie-girl, things changed, I had different priorities. Klaus understood, but uh…well, he went on ahead-“ Thom blew out a breath, bringing up his free hand to rub at his eyes, pinch at the bridge of his nose like he was trying to squeeze away headache. “ _I encouraged_ him to go on ahead, pursue it still, he’d make a fine leader.”  
          Cyril set the tray down on the coffee table and at on the arm of the couch, pressing his forehead against Thom’s as he breathed, “It is  _not_  your fault, love.”  
          Thom sighed, Sera’s body heaved a bit by the rise and fall of his chest. “Yeah, well. Hell its such a mess.” He held Sera tight, “They got into some trouble. Bad trouble.” His chin quivered as he pressed his lips to Sera’s hair, oh frig! “Oh Maker, I love you baby girl, you and Ellie, if anything ever happened to either one of you I-“  
          “Thom, frig, everything’s okay,” Sera squeaked out, just, full on crying hugging the Human man as tight as she possibly could, “I mean yeah, something bad happened but here, with us and everyone we’re all safe.”  
          “Yeah we are honey,” Thom supposed, clearing his throat, “I’m sorry. Everything’s okay.”  
          The others came home and Inky got in on the hug fest. It…was a pretty lazy Saturday, Cyril and Thom were pretty depressed, they ended up in pjs, in a big pile on their bed, the sad dads and their kids, Maggie and David even—Thom quietly whispered to Maggie that the paper was in a kitchen drawer and apparently she read it, Sera heard a drawer slamming shut before the woman dashed back into the room, squeezed in, wriggling in between Thom and the headboard to take her son in her arms, tucking his head up under her chin and that’s where she stayed, just holding him. Where they all stayed, only getting up when Sera helped David with grabbing food for everyone to snack on when Inky’s tummy started grumbling.  
          Sera…hung back in the kitchen just a minute, said she’d be right in and sent David on ahead back to the room. Took a peek in a few kitchen drawers until she found the one with the newspaper still in it—an Orlesian paper. Friggin-  
          Yup. Kind of regretted reading the article, she stopped after she got the gist but uh…she got why the dad-squad was so upset, were being so clingy. Frick.  _Kids_ were dead. An entire family. The Callier Massacre.  
          So she folded the newspaper up so the article wasn’t the first thing in view when you opened the drawer, just in case Inky went poking around, and then she went right back into Thom and Cyril’s room, and climbed back into bed between them, Ellie snuggling against her while Sera, getting well acquainted with the snuggling game after weeks of it, curled right up against Thom. Big dummy, blaming himself for his friends shite situation.  
          “You’re the best,” Sera said, pressing a kiss to his cheek, ruddy- the hair on these guys! His cheek was all scratchy, it was tickly!  
          “Thanks baby girl, you’re not so bad yourself,” Thom said, rubbing her back and then it seemed like he remembered, “Ellie-girl filled us in on her lunch date with the abuelos—how was your library date? You and Angie have a good time?”  
          “Mm-hmm,” Sera said, felt dumb, like it didn’t matter much now but Sera was a little blushy, hiding her face against Thom’s shoulder. “She asked me to be her girlfriend,” okay, Inky was holding her breath, already bouncing a little, “I said yes,” Sera assured.  
          “Yay!” Inky cheered.  
          Maggie friggin’ squealed! “Oh my word! Oh honey that’s so great!”  
          “Why didn’t you say anything button?” Cyril asked, “Details, girl!”  
          Sera worried at her lip and, “She had like, this list of books she said she wanted my help getting, first letters of all the titles were arranged to spell out ‘Will you be my girlfriend’, took a minute to catch on,” she shrugged.  
          “How romantic,” David encouraged, looking to Maggie, “You never asked me to be your boyfriend in such a thoughtful manner,” he complained.  
          “Oh I’m sorry my dear, but to be fair we’re married now. And we didn’t really do the ‘boyfriend girlfriend’ thing, that’s a game for the youths,” Maggie reasoned.  
          David smiled, chuckling warmly as he squeezed Maggie’s hand, “We may not have put it to words, but my dear I do hope you realize I married you with the intention of that act making you my girlfriend for the rest of my life.”  
          “In this scenario, you’re my boyfriend for the rest of my life?”  
          “Oh my love, I eat steak more nights of the week than I don’t,” David said, “But I’ll gladly be your boyfriend for the rest of _my_ life.”  
          Blah! Professor wasn’t allowed to croak. Maybe Sera’d sneak more green food into his diet. Cause as far as she was concerned, no one in the Rainier household had permission to die ever, for any reason whatsoever, in life.  
          That day took a somber turn but joking around, bein’ lazy and cozy…was pretty great.  
          Drakonis was pretty great month. Lady didn’t try to contact her at all! Almost. She hadn’t from the start, been real quiet and Sera was hoping that lasted. She was officially emancipated! Last week of Drakonis she got an official letter from the government and everything! As long as she sent in the occasional paystub and proof of residency, she was in the clear! She didn’t have to go back! She never,  _never_ had to go back! She could stay here! With Maggie and David and Cyril and Thom and Angie and- and  _Inky!  
_          Annnnnd her Aunt Flo.  
           _Apparently_ too much anxiety and your body can ruddy shut down your whole system—she thought her friggin’ period stopped because she lost so much weight, but nope! Might’ve been that, but it’d started even before that, her monthly guest not dropping by as scheduled, months before Lady got a hard on about her weight. Anxiety was a right bitch, she’d apparently been so stressed out—and bodies either went ‘we’re perioding so hard right now, it’s the period to end all periods’ or ‘drier than the desert in a drought’. Sera’s chose the latter.  
          And then it chose the former. Chose the former so damn hard, holy crap! She just about scarred Inky for life!  
          Poor sweets—it’d been a while and honestly…Sera’d been embarrassed to begin with, thought she was constipated or something, going to be sick bad from something she ate one day when she started feeling achey in her lower stomach all afternoon. She didn’t think anything of it, Cyril caught her rubbing at her tummy a bit and asked if she was alright, checked her for fever, and sent her off to bed with potion to help settle her stomach, something for headaches ‘cause that was rearing its ugly head.  
          And then she woke up to Ellie  _screaming_. Friggin’ thought the girl was being murdered!  
          Sort of was—Sera just about gave her a ruddy heart attack, the littler girl was just shaking and crying and screaming down the house for  _help_ because there was blood all on Sera’s pajamas, on her side of the bed, little bit on the back of Ellie’s nightgown, shite!  
          Turned out it was cramps and they was killin’ her, but she sat up with a groan as the adults came rushing into the room, all of them, Thom ruddy just about kicked the door off its hinges! “s’okay sweets, I’m okay-“ Sera tried.  
          “Sera’s  _dying!”_  Ellie screamed.  
          Yeah she was. From cramps and embarrassment. But…Ink ended up just a bit more embarrassed. Traumatized, really. Cyril and Thom and David too, only ‘cause Maggie insisted on helping Sera, getting her out of bed and helping her to the bathroom to clean up real good, getting her bandaging and potion and fresh sleep clothes and underthings, changing out the bedding, while the men took Inky into the living room, sat her down at the kitchen table with a warm mug of tea…and laid out the Maker damned facts of life.  
          Inky got the talk.  
          She got the talk from three bumbling men, all embarrassed as shite to inform her of it.  
          And she learned that what was happening to Sera was  _naturally occurring_ , body friggin’ did it  _to itself_ , and someday, Ellie’s body would be doin’ it too.  
          “But I don’t wanna! And I don’t want Sera to either! That has to hurt! She’s bleeding so much!”  
          “She’s alright baby girl, we promise,” Cyril said, “There’s potion and things that can mitigate how hard monthlies are. It’s entirely up to Sera—we’ll get her a Healer’s appointment.”  
          It…it  _was_  entirely up to her. For the first time, yeah, it was entirely her choice. Lady…had opinions about birth control and whatnot, said it’d just letSera  be a whore or whatever, and besides, if she was going to be married off with any success, she’d better have a lockdown on her ‘naturally occurring menstrual cycle’ and keep capable of getting-  
          Just! blah! Gross stuff! Dumb stuff! Stuff that didn’t matter anymore! Because no one around these parts was concerned with Sera getting loaded off onto some random man who could pay an okay dowry. She had a say in who she dated, and she had a say in what went on inside her body. Cyril took her in to see her general Healer and let her listen to all her options. Didn’t mind periods if they wasn’t too rough, and…even though she wasn’t knocking bits with anyone, let alone people with penises, it was so heavily ingrained in her ‘if your period doesn’t come, you’re 100% pregnant!’ she liked having the peace of mind? So, she got potion, stuff that’d make it more regular, be on a set schedule so she could actually be prepared next time and not scar Inky more, and it wouldn’t be so harsh to go through, and she could confirm month-to-month that she hadn’t been the victim of immaculate conception.  
          And Inky was sooo not looking forward to her own monthlies. And she was like a ruddy little mother or something running around the entire week Sera’s once-a-month friend was visiting, always checking on how Sera was feeling, checking her for fever, bringing her snacks and warm waterskins and asking if she needed potion. Bathtime was changed up, but Inky still kept her company—the younger girl would sit outside the tub chatting away with Sera while she soaked, helped her wash her hair. Wasn’t just Inky that fussed though, Cyril made her potion for cramping, fresh, like every morning, always checking in on how she’s feeling, Thom and David too, they was all real sympathetic. And Sera and Leo ate like kings basically—Maggie brought them lunch from uptown restaurants every day, always with some kind of chocolatey dessert. And Leo got the whole ‘monthly’ thing, was real sweet about checkin’ to make sure Sera hadn’t bled through her bottoms or anything. She did one day, hadn’t thought about bringing back up pants which was dumb, Leo lent her a jacket to wrap around her waist for a minute though,  
          “I mean, you could just rock the bloodstained look and say you got into a knife fight,” Leo suggested.  
          “With my butt?” Sera snorted.  
          “…yeah maybe that’s not the way to go.”  
          Really wasn’t, but his girlfriend—one word now too!—Rosie sweets, she tracked down a girl in her dorm Sera’s size and lent her some black slacks. And backup pants were officially a briefcase necessity!  
          Thank goodness that was behind her and hopefully potion would get working good, so she’d have proper warning, know when to expect her unwelcome guest next time.  
          Which...would be in Cloudreach. Late Cloudreach. So…  
          Sera wasn’t sure what to feel exactly, birthday coming up. With Lady, the day was nothing short of miserable. She used to have this…Lady was old. Real old. But the bitch kind of refused to die—was ‘sickly’ but never really got sick? Didn’t exactly live a dangerous life. So. Sera was never sure just how much time she had left under Lady’s influence. There was this level where even when Sera came of age, Lady would still have ways of making her live with her. It wasn’t like she knew jack shit about taking care of herself. And there’d been a few years where Lady had her convinced you didn’t get to become a legal adult without your parent or guardian certifying you as such? Like, legally? Barmy lie, but Sera believed it until she learned different from one of her tutors. That shite got them fired real quick…and it didn’t exactly instill a great deal of hope in Seda Emmauld.  
          She was maybe ten when she figured out how death worked. Like, that people didn’t just walk off into the next life whenever the Maker said. People got murdered, sick, things like that. Wasn’t sure what happened to her birth people, she supposed they left her behind or got separated or died. So she didn’t have much reference for death, ‘til one of Lady’s distant cousins bites it and Lady drags her to his funeral. Everyone was real weird about it—no one would say how he died, but they were somehow all talking about it at the same time, it was the sole topic in everyone’s mouths, but it was all dancing around the  _how_ of it. No one would just say it. Least not until one of his friends got sloshed drunk and started rambling about how  _these people_ were all to blame, where  _why he did it_.  
          Kind of sick, but to little Seda Emmauld, it sounded like mercy. People could  _choose_ to die. So…she picked a number. Twenty. She was giving herself four years after her coming of age to get her shit together and get out or for Lady to croak, and if one or the other didn’t happen…then at least it would just be over. And Seda doubted more and more she’d get out alive, so. Birthdays paled, seemed like a joke. Not just because Lady always marked the occasion with some sort of weird ass birthday party that was mostly for the adults, any kids that got dragged along definitely weren’t Seda’s friends. They hated her…she hated herself too, so.  
          Birthdays sucked.  
          But maybe…maybe they didn’t have to.  
          Got off to a bit of a rocky start, weekend before the week of her birthday. Lady only "celebrated" on the day proper if it fell on a day that was convenient for her to host a party. So on her social calendar, Anya* Emmauld had Sera's Birthday down as Drakonis 30th. Maggie came home from the office, sat Sera down and informed her she'd received a letter from Lady. She didn't have to read it, and if she did she was certainly not to believe anything Lady might have to say. Made her nervous, the idea leaving it unread because what if she did say something, threaten something Sera should know about and prepare for or counter? So she and Maggie read it together. It...was some passive aggressive bullshit about Lady missing 'Seda' and hoping she isn't 'too miserable living outside the care of the woman responsible for raising' her. Tried to guilt trip her for abandoning her. It almost worked...but just almost, Sera wasn't going to feel badly for getting out of Lady's house. Maggie let Sera burn Lady's dumb letter in the fireplace.  
          And when her birthday, proper, came?  
          There was a warm hand, big, calloused, always made Sera feel safe, resting against her back, rubbing circles through her sleep top, and Cyril’s voice whispering, “Hey, button. Real sorry to wake you, but we promise you’ll still get plenty of rest. You feel like getting up for a bit?”  
          Sera yawned, sitting up, Ellie stirring, and Sera saw Thom kneeling on her side of the bed. Sera always slept closer to the door. It was dumb but it was something she…kind of noticed in the adults. David slept closer to the door in him and Maggie’s room, Thom slept on the side of the bed near the door in his room…it was sort of a protective thing. If something ever happened, someone got into the house or something…person closest to the door was able to take action. Inky was littler than her, so…it was Sera’s job! She had to protect her! So if some absolute freak broke into the house and came in their room while they was sleepin’ Sera’d be closest, and Ellie’d be closer to the window, could get out! That was the rules! At least in Sera’s book.  
          No freaks tonight though. Total dorks, but…sweet dorks.  
          They was waking her up for her birthday.  
          Just…not quite yet. Cloudreach 3rd, about a half hour before midnight. They all gathered together in the living room for warm drinks, and basically just a big cuddle session on the couch, Sera ending up curled up against Thom, Inky in her lap.  
          “You’re all bonkers,” Sera said, “Don’t you have work?” she wondered to Thom.  
          “I am patrolling my house,” Thom joked, but then, “I take the day off on Ellie’s birthday, so, same goes for you. Little bit easier to swing even since it’s not a holiday they rely on extra guardsmen to patrol.”  
          Oh. Oh frig- “Thanks, that’s…that’s real sweet.”  
          “Well I have to stay home today,” Thom insisted, “I mean what kind of man would I be if I left my poor, sick family to fend for themselves?”  
          … “Huh?”  
          Cyril David and Maggie all started fake coughing like a bunch of hams, Inky offering up, “Cough, cough cough!” while Samson let off two short barks, getting in on the act. Though the adults looked to Inky for her efforts and she shrugged, “Fake-coughing real-hurts my lungs. I practiced!”  
          “Awe Inky,” Sera sympathized, “You…you’re all stayin home ‘sick’?”  
          “You too honey, common cold just swept right through this household,” Thom insisted.  
          Cyril ruddy felt at Sera’s forehead! “Yup! Cool as a cucumber, the definitive sign of a cold—I mean it’s in the name!”  
          “Cough cough,” Sera teased, giggling a bit. “Mine sounds just like Inky’s! We must be sick as dogs!” Samson huffed at that. “Sorry Sammy.” Though, “Wait, it’s Thursday, what’s Leo-“  
          “He’s got a light assignment of proctoring a pop quiz and sending my classes on their way,” David assured, “lab is cancelled for today.”  
          Oh. Cool! So…  
          She didn’t have work tomorrow. She wasn’t sure what she would be up to but…so far, birthday wasn’t so bad.  
          “Alright honey, sneakiness aside—how’s your life?” Thom wondered.  
          “…my life?”  
          “Yeah button,” Cyril said, “there anything you’re dissatisfied with? Goals you have for your next year of life? Anything you’d like to change?”  
          …were…were they  _serious?  
_          “I…I love my life,” Sera could honestly say.  “I-“ she tried and failed, shite, this shouldn't be so  _hard_. They'd all already said they loved her! But...there was something in her that said it was a  _trick_ , it had to be. That the very  _minute_ she dared to admit she loved them back...they wouldn't be able to return the favor. She held Ellie tighter, kind of grounding herself in how warm it was to sit like this, soft hair against her cheek as she rested it on top of the littler girl’s head, she could feel Inky’s heartbeat against her chest, and Thom’s against her back and she- she- “I love you. All of you, so so much. My life is amazing, not just because of the things you’ve all done for me, but because you’re in it.”  
          Oh- oh shite, did that sound dumb? Was that totally stu-  
          “We love you too, Sera!” Inky enthused, snuggling against her.  
          “Of course we do, honey you’ve given us a lot too,” Maggie assured.  
          “I just give you me,” Sera said.  
          “Well my dear, what more could we want?” David wanted to know.  
          “You, is an awful lot to give sweetheart, you’re part of what makes up our everything,” Thom informed her, pressing a kiss to Sera’s hair.  
          “You are more than enough for us, never doubt that,” Cyril assured, reaching out to pat Sera’s knee. “Sera Emmauld is always enough.”  
          Well, her ears was officially red.  
          “Thanks,” she said…though that…kind of gave her the thought… “There…there is one thing, I think I’d like to change. I-if I can?”  
          “Name it button, and we’ll certainly try to help you,” Cyril said.  
          “Do…do you think maybe I could change my name, like, for real? Legally or whatever?” it was still ‘Seda Emmauld’.  
          “Of course sweetheart,” Maggie assured, “We can file the appropriate actions as soon as possible—it will take a few months to be made official but I imagine by the time you start school you can do so with whatever name you care to have. Would you like a legal change to Seda or…?”  
          “I…I don’t wanna be ‘Emmauld’ anymore, definitely,” Sera said. She…wasn’t real sure what she’d choose as a last name, could you change last names?  
          “Well, unless the court discovers you’ve an illicit life of crime you’re trying to avoid serving time for,” Maggie teased, “you’re free to have whatever last name you wish.”  
          “…you know,” Thom ventured carefully, “no pressure, but Rainier’s a solid name. Served me pretty well—my whole life. Had it for more than thirty years—tricked this crazy bloke into takin it.”  
          “He did,” Cyril said, “Old last name was a bit of a mouthful.”  
          “R-really?” Sera asked.  
          “Well yeah, people usually conjoin or take on one another’s names when they get married,” Cyril said, “We’re not all blasphemous modernists like some people.”  
          “I’ll give up my last name over my cold dead body,” Maggie said.  
          “I’m legally David Farkus-Rainier. I drop the Farkus when I use my Maggie’s discounts,” David confessed, “Or when I’m feeling adventurous, don’t want people to recognize me by my own name when I’m out for a night on the town.”  
          “You’re all nuts!” Sera said, exasperated, “I mean you really…you’d be cool with me using your name?”  
          “Well of course honey,” Thom said.  
          R-really? “What do you think, Ink? If I changed my name to Sera Rainier?”  
          “Sera Estella Rainier,” Maggie corrected.  
          “Ohhh that’s so pretty!” Ellie enthused! “We’d be samesies Sera! Cause I’m Elena Mariana Rainier! And Sera Estela Rainier—your first and middle names are Antivan like mine!”  
          “Wait frig, really?” She knew Seda was silk or whatever now, but Sera?  
          “The way you spell Sera? Uh-huh!” Ellie confirmed. “She will be like a star! Rainier!”  
          “And you’d be okay with that?”  
          “Umm yeah!” Ellie said like ‘duh!’ “I’d love that!”  
          “I’d love that too,” Sera said, nodding, yeah, “I wanna be Sera Rainier.”  
          “Then Sera Rainier you shall be!” Maggie assured her.  
          So…that settled, they sat together and just sort of enjoyed  being with one another, Sera almost wondered what they were still doing up but…  
          “Midnight in five,” Cyril said, looking at his watch, “four…three…two…one…”  
          “Happy Birthday Sera!” everyone wished her and she got squished! Thom and Inky and Cyril leaned over to half-lay on her, hugging her tight.  
          Kay. So, so far, yeah, this birthday didn’t suck at all.  
          She and Inky got to sleep in a little bit, woke up to warm breakfast…and absolutely no indication of what they were going to get up to today. But there was something new hanging in her closet that hadn't been there last night, a dress...but it wasn't bad. It was actually pretty cute, yellow and white plaid, sleeveless, it just covered her shoulders, the collar was high, and it buttoned up in the front from the waist up.  It wasn't even that much of a dress the skirt went just above her knees but under it was like shorts, so she didn't feel nervous about needing to follow any 'dress' rules. Inky was very excited, almost seemed to forget she'd need actual clothing on if they were going to go out, Sera was dressed and ready and helped the littler girl out of her nightgown and into a pale green sundress, the tiny Antivan wriggling like mad the whole way, all smiley and impatient.  
          "Come on Sammy, Sera! Let's go!" Ellie said, taking Sera's hand real tight and pulling her along to meet the rest of the family in the living room.  
          Maggie had this big cloth purse slung over her shoulder, wearing a floppy white sunhat and she had two more in hand, a pale green one she put on Inky and bright yellow one she plopped on Sera's head, making sure it fit good before they went to the door to slip on their shoes. New things still! White slip-on sandals Sera didn't remember buying, but they fit perfect. Thom had hold of Samson's leash and he took Inky's free hand, Cyril took Sera's and Maggie and David brought up the rear of their group, holding hands as they left the house and headed uptown.  
          Not  _quite_ uptown though. Made it about halfway, to the little middle section of Markham that led to the city's main gate. They...they were leaving the city, like, what's on?  
          "Where're we going?" Sera wondered for about the third time.  
          "You'll see baby girl, it's just a little bit of a walk," Cyril assured her, "you okay button? You get tired just say the word."  
          "M'fine," Sera assured, though she wasn't too sure 'bout Inky, poor thing had a bit of trouble keeping up when she had the littlest legs in the family, and she wasn't sure how much of a 'bit' their walk would be, so, Sera stopped just a sec, letting go of Cyril's hand and getting a hold up under Ellie's arms to hoist her up onto her hip, the little Human girl letting out a giggly squeak but she wrapped her arms around Sera's neck and hugged her tight, pressing a kiss to Sera's cheek as she said,  
          "You're the birthday girl Sera! I can carry you back!"  
          Sera chuckled at that, "We'll see about that, sweets."  
          She heard where they was goin' before she could see. She heard the rush of water as they veered off the road and headed into the woods, Sera was glad she'd taken Inky up, shite,  _she_ nearly bit it tripping over a root, would've if Cyril didn't have a hand on her. A bubbling stream that led directly into this great big lake! Clean sparkling water, sunlight pouring in, shining on the water, but the bank had so much cool shade, Sammy was let off his leash and immediately ran for the water.  
          Holy crap! It-! Sera'd never seen anywhere like it before. Never. She'd seen city streets and Lady's house. Maybe the barest glimpse of their surroundings when they traveled, Lady always insisted on keeping the blinds drawn in the carriage, something about the sun being bad for for their skin. This was...it was dumb but it almost felt like an adventure? Going out and exploring somewhere she'd never been before with people she loved and doing something kind of new.  
          "Do you know how to swim, sweetheart?" Maggie wondered.  
          “Kind of?" Sera tried, then, "...not really, never been swimming," she shrugged.  
          "No worries honey, stay close, we'll watch over you and Ellie-girl," Thom assured her.  
          "Would you care to learn, we'd certainly teach you," David said and when Sera nodded shyly he grinned and said, "We'll have you swimming like a fish in no time my dear!"  
          "Sera would be the most prettiest fish!" Inky enthused, bouncing a bit on Sera's hip, "I'll keep you safe, promise!"  
          "Alright ladies and gentlemen," Maggie said, "if you're interested in getting in the water, you can spare your clothes."  
          They had these sort of cotton dungarees Inky, Maggie, and Sera changed into, and the guys all- oh- oh gosh!  
          Sera busted up laughing! Full blown cackling that got Ellie laughing along with her, Maggie giggling into her hand. They was wearing like these button up jumpsuit things, short sleeved, shorts! Went to their knees!  
          "I will have you know young lady, this is the height of fashion!" the Professor assured her, striking a pose before looking to Cyril and Thom, "Gentlemen! Grab your ladies! To the water!"  
          Wait what? Their ladi-  
          Cripes! Thom scooped up Inky and ran for the lake, Professor friggin'! He could move! He just hoisted Maggie over his shoulder, the woman squealing with laughter all the way to the water! And Cyril swooped Sera up into his arms, runnin'! Oh shite, he wasn't gonna throw her in or something-  
          But he stopped in the shallowest part of the water, spinning around a few times to make Sera laugh, dizzy in this heady fun way before he set her on her feet, hugged her so she didn't go falling into the water but her feet splashed in it, got wet up to her knees, it was so much fun!  
          Splashing was fun! Swimming was fun! Swinging was fun! Thom said he couldn't 'believe it was still here' but there was this big long rope hanging up high on a tree branch, apparently him and Cyril and all their friends used to sneak out here and play and... _not_ drink...and swing!  
          Sera'd been a bit scared but Ellie'd been scared too and that...well it made Sera feel braver, like she had to be for the littler girl. So! Swinging! Directly into the water! And Thom's arms. The Human man was waiting for her, arms wide, backing up as she released the rope and was right there to hold her up so she wouldn't be scared of drowning or something.  
          “I got you baby girl,” he assured, got a beard-scratchy kiss to her cheek as he walked them to the shallow bank. “Wanna go again?”  
          Wasn’t sure if she wanted it for the swinging, or getting catched, but, “Yeah!”  
          Friggin’ it was so much  _fun!_ She even learned a little bit about swimming, enough to have some fun with it, splash around and play in the water, and Maggie packed this thick blanket she laid out on the ground on the riverbank, it was huge! And it was so friggin’ warm, relaxing to lay and dry off—though Samson! The nut, the Mabari came right up to them, shook off and got water everywhere and then laid down next to Sera. Which…was nice, felt safe and comforting and warmer that way. Inky was the definition of tuckered out, fell asleep laying on Sera. Sera fell asleep too, she was warm and dry when she woke up, all the adults had changed back into their dry clothes, Maggie helped Sera and Ellie with changing back into their Birthday outfits.  
          “Alright! I got one, you got the other?” Cyril asked Thom as they packed up to leave.  
          “Yup!” Thom assured, snatching Inky up to carry her through the woods, and,  
          “Come on button—we must feast!” Cyril declared as he walked ahead of her, taking her hand and pulling her along guiding one arm over his shoulder as he crouched and she  got the hint, she giggled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and hopped up to ride piggyback! Cyril lugged her the entire way back into town.  
          Friggin’ did feast! They went to this place, was sort of a favorite…it was dumb! She wasn’t sure  _why_ but…blah, there was this place run by City Elves, but like, third, fourth, fifth generation or whatever. The youngest of them's great great grandparents assimilated or whatever, was Dalish. Friggin the food was good okay! And…it was dumb but yeah, maybe there was something kind of familiar about it all. Didn’t really remember much from before Lady’s house but…some. Vaguely. But when she smelled Halla broth noodles, rams meat, Halla-milk* potatoes? It was like eating a hug or a happy memory if that made sense. Nothing tasted better and she hated that the first time they ate here, it was one of the places on the Rainier’s restaurant rotation. She’d been so embarrassed to  _like_ something Elfy, thought they’d just assume she liked it just ‘cause she’s Elfy…and yeah, that’s probably why. Mostly why. But it was also really friggin’ good! and maybe…so was being an Elf. That seemed less and less like the character flaw Lady made it out to be, more and more lately.  
          “Your chicken hot-pot, da’len,” the serving girl said as she set Sera’s entree down, brushed a hand through Sera’s hair. One of the owner’s kids, they usually sat in her section and she was always real sweet to Sera and Inky—Ellie friggin’ knew Dalish! Sera…not quite so much but sort of? She couldn’t think of the words, not like with Trade, but if she tried sometimes yeah they just came to the tip of her tongue, tripped off the edge when she opened her mouth. And the sounds managed to connect somehow in her head, most words said to her she was able to just kind of know what they meant. Weirdy!  
          “Ma serannas,” Sera said, she knew ‘thank you’ well enough by now.  
          “In’garas,” she said, wishing her, “Have a blessed birthday emm’asha, may your luck build,” and then, looking to the elder Human woman at the table, “Let me know if I can get you anything else, lethallan.”  
          “Thank you, Marehis*, everything looks delicious as always—do please tell your mother I said so. I mean the rolls she makes, if I could, I would eat them day and night.”  
          “We don’t have rolls in my Maggie’s bag!” Ellie insisted the lie.  
          Marehis  giggled, the Elf woman bopping Inky on the nose, “Oh da’vehnan, you’re welcome to all the rolls your sweet heart desires to take home with you,” she leaned down to whisper in conspiracy, “Mamae just put some in the oven, I’ll see you leave with fresh.”  
          “Ah, si?!” Inky squeaked in  excitement, “Gracias!”  
          “De nada,” the woman winked, waving before she left them.  
          Hot-pots was so good. Nicer than what actual hot pots was she supposed—Marehis’s Mamae said they made them out of whatever they had on hand, when you started running low on everything, you put it all together in a pot and cooked it up. Here, with the blessings to their business and being in a city, hot-pots were still authentic—didn’t add in anything that wouldn’t be normally on hand to use—but you got a say in what was in them. Lots of chicken, rice, nettles, potatoes, peas, carrots, onions smothered in warm gravy.  
          “Oi! Fork in your own food,” Sera snapped poking at Cyril when the man swiped a piece of chicken from her bowl.  
          Cyril chuckled, “Just making room,” he promised, spooning…okay, he could take some of her chicken she guessed, if that meant there was room for home made noodles to go into her bowl—she liked mixing them! It was good!  
          Felt a little hypocritical when she let Inky have at her potatoes without complaint, but she was only tiny!  
          Didn’t feel quite as tiny when they were leaving, Sera was stuffed and Thom let out an exaggerated groan as he hoisted Inky up on his hip, but the streets were pretty well crowded, they got a little separated, but not entirely—they ended up in pairs of two it looked like, David had his arm around Maggie and Cyril wrapped his arm around Sera’s shoulders, keeping her close the whole walk.  
          …to Markham University.  
          They regrouped at the gate and Inky took Sera’s hand real tight.  
          “We’re taking a special Birthday Tour!” Ellie announced, “You ready?”  
          “Tour away Inky,” Sera supposed.  
          So Ellie skipped on ahead, their arms swinging as Sera matched her pace, gigglin’ a bit as they skipped all the way into the science building and down the hall to stop in front of David’s office, “This, is Abuelo’s office! Sera came to Markham to meet him!”  
          There was a little envelope sticking out of the little mail slot in the door, with  _Sera_ written on the back in David’s hand. So Sera took it up and the Professor nodded, smiling real big so she opened it up…huh, three slips of paper inside, open invitations for some sort of fancy spa toting the ‘ultimate relaxing experience’.  
          “Very nice,” Maggie approved.  
          “You and Inky’ll go with me, right? Er, unless-“ she looked to David who laughed,  
          “Of course, it’s for my three special ladies. I’ve…inspected the facilities on multiple occasions and found it more than suitable for you all.”  
          “Thanks,” Sera said, she wasn’t sure how she’d like spa-ing it up, it was something Lady liked doing for herself, Sera’d never been included. Maggie and Ellie seemed excited about it so…it’d…probably be fun. “So…tour? Where’s next Ink?”  
          “Riiiight,“ the girl gently pushed Sera to sit in the chair just outside the door for waiting. “Here!  _This!”_  Ellie announced, “Is the exact spot Sera and me met! So it’s basically the best spot in the whole entire world!”  
          “Yeah, it’s a pretty decent spot,” Sera supposed, smiling when Ellie giggled and then,  
          “Check under the chair!” she said.  
          …under the chair?  
          There was a long slender white envelope stuck under the bottom of the seat with some of the sticky tack they sometimes used to stick papers to the chalkboard. It was blank on the back but when she looked up to the adults they all nodded that it was for her, so,  
          It…oh frig it really was for Sera. Or almost, anyway-  
          “Are these…?” she looked up from the very official looking paperwork, to Maggie.  
          “The appropriate forms for changing your name,” Maggie nodded. “Ellie brought up the idea, she thought you might like the ability to do so, but might not know that you could, this was how we planned to inform you and give you that option, though our discussion last night was rather fortuitous. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll sit down with you and help you fill them out.”  
          Sera bounced in her seat a bit before popping up to launch at the older woman, hugging her tight! “Thanks! This is so great! Um…can we maybe fill them out…”she kind of wanted to say ‘now’ but she didn’t want to mess up anything-  
          “I think you can do that pretty good on our tour!” Ellie informed her, “Come on! Next stop!”  
          The library. Up up up the stairs to the Chemistry section,  
          “And here,” Maggie announced, “is where I first met our sweet Sera.”  
          And there, in the little sitting area Inky’d sat her down at when she hadn’t been feeling too great, there was a present waiting, a big box with a bow on it.  
          And inside? Shiny new briefcase full of fresh notebooks, a journal set up just for lab work, had grids and pages just for measurements and friggin’ the Periodic table! Like updated, and everything! And a case of sharpened pencils David assured her would ‘write like a dream’ and pens! Like the kind Maggie used, that had ink already in them!  
          “This is amazing,” Sera breathed. “Thanks, Maggie, I love it.”  
          “Of course sweetheart,” Maggie said.  
          “We’re not done yet!” Inky assured, and off they went, down down down, and to the building Maggie’s department was in.  
          “Here…” Cyril said as he went to the door to Maggie’s office, “is where I got to meet the one, the only—future Sera Rainier,” he announced as he threw open the door.  
          Another package. Actually, it was just a gift wrapped up in pretty paper—a huge, great big book! Fancy cover—it was this cool sciencey textbook full of fun experiments that were touted to be things you could do at home,  
          “With proper supervision, of course,” Cyril said, already looked like he was ruddy excited though, he was probably going to be worse than Sera and Inky combined getting into trouble with this!  
          Big dummy! He got a squeezy hug and, “Thanks papa,” Sera said.  
          Oh. Oh frig she- she hadn’t meant- …kind of? had she? She hadn’t thought about it, not really-  
          Cyril’s eyes went wide, looked like they might fall right out of his head!  
          And then he  _whooped!_ “Ellie-girl, I love you baby but I’m sorry, the spot you met Sera? That spot can eat it compared to this spot, it’s where  _I_ met Sera,  _and_ where she called me ‘Papa’ for real, on purpose, for the first time!”  
          Sera couldn’t help but smile even as she was blushing and offering up an embarrassed, “You’re such a dork!”  
          “Your papa dork! That’s what they call me in the streets,” Cyril owned it.  
          Tour did get to take a bit of a break, Maggie and Sera sat down at the woman’s desk and used her fancy new pens to fill out her paperwork. Current name, address, date of birth, date of signature.  
          Reason for request?  
          …well, Maggie shot down the first idea that came to mind—‘Lady Anya Emmauld’s a right bitch and I’d rather suffocate than share the same air as her let alone the same last name’ was probably a bit much.  
           _Sera is who I am, and a Rainier is who I want to be. The Rainier family has taken me under their wing, I love them. We share a house, share a family, and now they’re letting me share their name, whether this court approves or not. Not to say that I don’t hope you do—legal name being different from your name-name can be a real bear to keep straight.  
_          She was already pretty awful at the whole ‘straight’ thing, it was really best not to risk it.  
          “Great job baby,” Maggie commended, rubbing Sera’s arm reassuringly once they finished up the paperwork and tucked it away for safe keeping in Sera’s new briefcase. “Alright, are we ready to continue our tour?”  
          “One last stop,” Thom said, offering his hand to Sera and he walked with her, leading their group from Maggie’s office and across campus, toward one of the bigger buildings Sera hadn’t quite gotten around to checking out, but there was always something going on there, at least once a week the place was full of sound, music, big crowds of people. There was a huge hallway from the side entrance they used, loud, marbly, their steps echoed as they made their way…oh, there was like all these different rooms—big and small—for like events, concerts and parties ‘n pish. Thom turned the corner, squeezing Sera’s hand as he spoke, “The first time we met wasn’t on campus…Chantry is a bit of a walk from here, so, this is more along the lines of another first…” he said as he pulled Sera along to a set of double doors, pressing a kiss to her forehead, that definitely wasn’t a first but she wasn’t complaining, forehead kisses was the best! It felt dumb, but it was true! “Happy birthday sweetheart.”  
          He let go of her hand and used both hands to throw open the doors.  
           _“Happy Birthday, Sera!”  
_          Holy crap!  
          Doors led to one of the littler party halls, just big enough for friggin’…  
          The best birthday party Sera had ever, ever had in her entire life, at least that’s what it looked like it was going to be.  
          She’d gotten to know James and Will since moving in with the Rainiers, they were there. And a few of Maggie’s friends that Sera knew well now, Agatha and them, they was all real nice. Ciel and his mom, awe Russel and his parents was around too, he was a nice enough little bloke, thought Sera was ‘cool’ ‘cause she worked at the ‘big kids school’ and had helped him and Ellie with their homework a few times when Inky brought him home with her after school and for a few playdates. Front and center? Angie, and her dad. And Leo and Rosie was right alongside them, holdin’ hands, the friends of his that he’d introduced Sera to…they was her friends too now, really. Frick, like, they were actually taking time out of their busy days to do this, it was the middle of the week! Aaron—Chem major, in his second year, this big Human bloke, real sweet and funny and if Sera rolled that way she’d probably have a crush on the guy but as it stood, he was one of her best friends at Markham—he  came right up to Sera, giving her a bear hug and dropping a kiss to her hair,  
          “I’ve got a test in about five minutes so wish my fat ass some luck hoofin’ it across campus. Happy birthday babe, you’re the best, love you—kick Leo’s ass for me if he tries to claim my presents from him, it’s on the table, silver wrapping paper, big yellow bow, it is from  _me_  and me alone—you hear that Thompson!”  
          “I got my own present for Sera and its way better than yours!” Leo called back.  
          Arron shook his head, insisting to Sera, “No it isn’t, he’s sweating, he knows if you compare our two presents greatness, he’ll be dead to you. Have a good one Ser’-bear.”  
          Blah! “Shove off!” Ser’-bear was a dumb nickname! Just cause it rhymed didn’t- didn’t mean it was a good nickname! “Thanks—for coming and the present and everything, good luck on your test.”  
          “Good luck on your run,” Leo chuckled, even louder when Aaron flipped him off and bolted for the door, slinging his school bag over his shoulder and pounding down the hallway. She had knew some of the most ridiculous people!  
          The most ridiculous, most amazing people.  
          Angela released her hold on her father’s hand, skipping up to Sera and taking her hands as she pressed a kiss to Sera’s lips, “Happy Birthday,” the Human girl giggled, “Are you having a good day?”  
          “The best!” Sera assured, “Even better now, thanks for coming,” she leaned to the side a bit to look to the dark skinned Human man, “you too, Mister Johnson.”  
          He favored her a great big grin before he came and took up her and Angela in his arms, hoisting them high in a hug, cripes it was fun! “Of course, had to come see the birthday girl,” he said before setting them on their feet again.  
          “Mister Johnson, Mister Johnson! My turn! My turn!” Inky cheered, bouncing excitedly before the big man chuckled and crouched to swoop her up, hugging her to his chest, “You give! The best! Hugs!” Ellie enthused before whispering, “Don’t tell my papis.”  
          “Alright bug, you got it,” Mister Johnson promised, patting her on the back before setting her on her feet.  
          “Sera?” a little voice chirped, oh! Russel, that cutie had come up behind her, tapped her on the elbow to get her attention.  
          “Hey sweets, what’s up?”  
          “Thank you for inviting me to your birthday party!” he enthused.  
          She hadn’t exactly sent out any invites, but, “I’m glad you could make it…gotta joke for me?”  
          The boy let out an excited little whoop and then, “What did the pirate say on his 80th birthday?”  
          “What?” Sera wondered, seemed he was taking a break from the knock-knock jokes.  
          He crooked his index finger like a pirate hook and growled out, “Aye m’atey!”  
          …that…was so friggin’ cute.  
          Sera smiled, laughing at his joke and accepting a hug from the Dwarf boy, “Thanks sweets, that was the best!”  
          “Russel always has great birthday jokes!” Inky said, “Come on Russel, let Sera play with Angie okay?” she looked around like she was getting ready to share some great secret before whispering to the boy, “She’s her girlfriend.”  
          “Oh wow oh wow oh wow! I knew she’d say yes!” Russel was pretty excited about that news.  
          “Uh-huh! You and me can go play with Ciel!”  
          “Yeah, let’s go!” Russel agreed, takin Inky’s hand and going off to find the little Orlesian boy.  
          Sera and Angela got some play time—with everyone. There was a few games set up like pin the tail on the fennec and Inky taught Sera tag the first time they ever went to the park together, it was the best! So they played, Sera and Angela, Inky, Russel, Ciel…and Cyril, he was such a big kid! Leo and his friends even got in on the fun! They ran around the reception hall chasing each other until Maggie whistled, calling for them to come get dessert.  
          Cake! And presents, frick, it looked like there was a little something from everyone holy crap!  
          “Alright button,” Cyril said, his hands on her shoulders as he pushed her along to stand in front of the cake, Thom was just finishing up lighting the candles and-  
           _Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Seeeeraaa! Happy Birthday to you!  
_          “Make a wish sweetheart,” Thom prompted warmly.  
          A…a wish? Holy shite she- she’d lived on nothing _but_ wishes in Lady’s house. And now…she couldn’t think of a single thing she could possibly wish for that she didn’t already have. She just…  
           _I wish this would last forever._

 

* * *

 

          Things couldn’t last forever. Or at least, they couldn’t stay the same.  
          Sera…Sera learned that the hard way. That sometimes things weren’t how you wanted them to be, not entirely.  
          …and that was okay.  
          Didn’t necessarily start out okay.  
          Started ‘bout a week before Inky’s birthday.  
          Sera’d been in classes for ‘bout five months. Five, amazing, incredible months. College was just…it was everything she’d wanted but like…also intense. Like there was some days the only thing that kept her going was being able to go _home,_ lay down on the floor with Inky who did her best to sympathize—the littler girl would just lay and let Sera vent or groan incoherently at her, always offering up little ‘uh-huh’s and ‘you said it, sister, school is hard’ one day with the addition of ‘did you know there was fractions of numbers? That’s messed up!’  
          Sera’d giggled, somehow Inky being so frustrated at something simple like fractions made her feel better about college calculus. “Heck yeah that’s messed up, sorry sweets. I can help you if you want.”  
          Definitely felt better when that had the little Antivan sitting up, “You know fractions?” and when Sera nodded, Ellie pressed a big kiss to her cheek, “You’re the smartest!”  
          Maybe she wasn’t the smartest, but her little sister thought so! So…calc could eat it!  
          But there was so much good about it. She had amazing friends, and classes that interested her, challenged her, Professors she admired. ‘cept maybe her ‘Music Theory’ professor. There was some kind of rubbish about needing a ‘well rounded’ education. It just sounded like the uni wanting more butts in more classes for more money, to Sera, but she was on scholarship, wasn’t footing the bill so…eh. Still seemed like bullshit. Professor Martin wasn’t like, a total loser, he was just…really into his thing, like a real enthusiast for old-timey music that bored Sera to tears just listening to it, but she had to  _read it_. Friggin’ sheet music! For hours! And then be able to tell the difference between composers when the names wasn’t on the sheet music, for like tests and shite! It was dumb! And boring and stupid and Sera wasn’t ever going to use any of this crap! But her other classes, they were hard, but worth it. She definitely felt the pressure to keep her grades up, there was no way in hell she was losing her scholarship. And she had a place on campus now! She…stayed home more nights of the week than she cared to admit, it felt a little embarrassing but Thom and Cyril and them, they never made her feel babied for wanting to stick around. She stayed the night on campus when she had class first thing in the morning or something, so she could wake up early and open up the office for Leo and David and get the ball rolling on some work before heading to class, but yeah, most nights she went home with Maggie or David. Which suited her roommate just fine—Rosie, she was the sweetest! She put in the request that Sera room with her, told Sera to do the same and boom! Roomies! So…most nights, Rose had the room all to herself…which meant having Leo all to herself, Sera didn’t need the details on what they got up to, she got the gist. And she definitely stayed at home on the weekends—Saturdays was still library date days with Angie!  
          Blah! Off track! College was great, Angela was amazing, and something was wrong with Inky!  
          It started, you know, the week before Ellie’s birthday. Last week of Haring 9:37. It was a Thursday, Sera didn’t have class until midmorning, so she’d stayed the night at home, still woke up at the buttcrack of dawn though, just habit or…or maybe it was that something felt off. Even before she woke up, she hadn’t had a nightmare exactly just…really weird dreams she couldn’t remember the moment she was awake.  
          Inky was sitting up in bed when Sera woke up. And then she really woke up, shot up straight in bed ‘cause,  
          “Inky? You okay? What’s wrong sweets?”  
          Ellie’s chin quivered a bit, she was real shaky and pale and she just looked _scared._ “I- I don’t know.”  
          “Did you have a bad dream?” Sera wondered. Sometimes Inky got weird about that—having nightmares, she always reassured all the adults that everyone was safe and she was okay, that her nightmare hadn’t been ‘bad’ or whatever which was crazy—nightmares was bad! Ellie shook her head, ‘no’, and Sera felt at her forehead which  _shite_ , she’d been expecting maybe a little bit of fever or something, but the girl felt clammy! Like, friggin’ chilled! Sera didn’t feel cold, and she always made sure their room felt toasty and the window was secure before they fell asleep, “Hold on sweets, I’m gonna get papa, okay?” Cyril’d know what to do if Ellie was sick.  
          Ink swallowed, almost like she was choking down bile or something oh crap, maybe she was really really sick! But she nodded, so Sera jumped out of bed and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her before she bolted into their dads’ room, looked like maybe Thom had just gotten in, he was still in uniform laying on top of the covers beside Cyril who was snoring away.  
          “Papa?”  
          That had Cyril shooting up like a man resurrected from the grave, Thom too when he felt his husband startle awake, he let out a little half-awake confused grunt just under Cyril’s sleep-riddled, “Whas’sup button?”  
          “Something’s wrong with Inky, she’s real cold and she seems upset or like she might be sick or something.”  
          Cyril climbed out of bed running a hand over his face before he came and rested his hands on Sera’s shoulders, “Is she breathing alright?” Sera nodded,  
          “Yeah, but her hearts kind of racing.”  
          Cyril pressed a kiss to her forehead, “Alright, thank you sweetheart, I’ll check on her. You’re feeling okay? Only downside to you two sharing such close quarters, if one of you goes down, the other’ll be along shortly after.”  
          Yeah, Sera friggin’ learned that the hard way—now whenever she was sick, got a little cold or something she stayed at school, shite. No way was she interested in getting Inky sick again, Sera’d gotten a bug that’d been goin’ around the college when she was working there in the summer, and Inky got it, friggin’ ended up with ruddy pneumonia, fluid built up in her lungs, it was a nightmare and it’d gutted Sera that she got sick from her. David and Maggie assured her they could have easily carried the bug home to Ink, but when Sera was sick, Inky wanted so bad to help her feel better, kept her company the whole time, snuggled and read to her and everything, then ended up sick herself. Blah! That’d been the worst! Sera didn’t feel sick…if she got sick from this, it better friggin’ just wait! Cause if Inky was sick, Sera wasn’t just gonna leave her all on her lonesome! Could she call off sick from class? She hadn’t used any absences yet, and someone should stay with the girl if she had to stay home from school. Cyril graduated just last week, he was a certified Healer now, he could write her a sick note! And it was just a review day anyway—next week would be finals, Monday through Thursday and then they’d be done, off school for a while with First Day celebrations happening on Friday.  
          Thom got up and was making himself busy cleaning up and changing out of uniform it sounded like, as Sera followed Cyril back into her and Ink’s room, the Human man grabbed his medical kit from the kitchen counter and tackled his first official case as a for-real Healer! Kind of nice it was for Inky? Maybe not, ‘cause that meant she was sick.  
          “Hey sweetheart,” Cyril spoke softly as he knelt at Ellie’s side, feeling at her forehead, “babygirl what’s wrong? Does anything hurt?”  
          Ellie shook her head, “No…it just, something’s wrong I- I don’t know what but m- um,” Inky looked up to Sera standing in the doorway and she fidgeted a bit, fingers wrigglin’, “I’m just- just really really scared. It’s making me really scared and my tummy feels sick and my hearts all poundy.”  
          “Okay honey, papa’s gonna take a listen just to be safe,” Cyril said, taking out his stethoscope, listening before he took Inky’s wrist in hand, checking her pulse before scooping her up, “Alright baby, let’s go to papi,” bouncing her a bit as he ran a hand through her hair, carrying her to the men’s bedroom, Thom looked like he’d been just about to head out and join them, changed into his sleep clothes but he backed up and climbed back into bed as Cyril deposited the little Antivan girl before him and she crawled into Thom’s lap, laying against his chest, frick frick frick, what was going on? She was scared and feeling panicky? Having some kind of anxiety episode or something? Her chin was all quivery and she buried her face against Thom’s chest, crying a little.  
          “Inky-“ Sera started.  
          “Hey button?” Cyril asked, motioning for Sera to follow him and…well, Thom had Ellie, but Sera still wasn’t super sure about letting the littler girl out of sight without figuring out what to do to help her, still she went with Cyril, leaving the bedroom door hang open just in case Inky called for them. “Would you mind doing something for me?”  
          Oh, “Sure thing.”  
          “Ellie’s always struggled keeping up size-wise, she’s little for her age and she’s very sensitive to gastrodia root, loops her right out if we’re not careful, so I’ve always made her potion for anxiety myself, and I’m out of some vital ingredients,” he looked ruddy miserable with himself, wrenching his hand at the back of his neck as he sighed, “She hasn’t had a panic attack in over a year, but I should’ve kept stocked up. I’d like to get started as soon as possible, and I can do that with what I have on hand, if you could maybe take Samson for a walk down the block to Miss Fleming’s shop?”  
          Blah, after all these months with Inky, all the rhyming made her almost giggle. She nodded, “Of course.”  
          “Thank you so much baby girl, I really appreciate it,” Cyril said, giving her shoulder a squeeze before he went to the kitchen counter and got some scrap paper out of a drawer, started jotting down a list, “She’s up at this time, should be opening any minute now, just knock on the door if it’s locked and give her my name and she’ll get you sorted,” Cyril said, handing her the note and then going to where his coat was hanging by the door…and then when he came up empty handed he started digging around in Thom’s coat pockets, calling, “I’m breaking into your stash old man!”  
          Thom snorted softly, calling back, “Buy yourself something nice sweet thang.”  
          Cyril chuckled, handing off a few coins to Sera, “He’s so good to me.”  
          Dorks the both of them. Sera smiled as she dashed into her and Ink’s room and threw on a sweater and socks, she didn’t care if anyone saw her in her sleep pants. Samson was up and at ‘em and he came right to her when she made a few little kissing sounds at him, “C’mon Sammy, lets go for a walk, yeah?” didn’t hesitate to let her clip his leash on. She waved to Cyril who was already at the counter, prepping herbs and threw on her coat. Wait, was Miss Fleming’s up the street or down it? Left or right? Frick.  
          She found it! It took a minute. Few minutes, she went the exact wrong way but she got herself turned back around. Miss Fleming was an old lady, but she was nice, let Sera right in, kind of looked at her a little funny when she said Cyril sent her, stared at her ears for a moment and then it looked like something clicked,  
          “Oh!  _You’re_ Sera! Of course, let me see that list,” the woman invited, she had little spectacles hanging on a chain around her neck that she brought up to her eyes as she examined Cyril’s list, “Oh you’re in luck! I just got a fresh shipment of white oak bark.”  
          “Thanks, I really appreciate it.”  
          Yes! Friggin’, she did it! She and Sammy, he did his part! Did his business on the way back so maybe he wouldn’t need let out later?  
          “…gic’s not getting sick? You’re absolutely certain Ellie-girl? I know we haven’t told Sera yet but we…could,” Thom’s voice was…Sera could hear him through the wall of their house as she passed by, the curtains was drawn so she stopped in her tracks and stopped because…well frick, she needed to get this in but her stomach basically dropped into her feet when she heard her name and something… they hadn’t told her? ‘Yet’? Was something…was something wrong? Like seriously wrong? Inky had asthma, yeah, and she was little, and she got sick easy sometimes but-  
          “No! It doesn’t feel like it’s getting sick, it just feels like something bad is coming? I don’t know how to explain it-“ Ellie sniffled in a sob, “I don’t know what to do. Just, no telling Sera, I don’t want to scare her.”  
          “Oh sweetheart, shhh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, shhh. Do you need Ava? That Jefferies boy, he seemed nice enough last time we visited, he’d get her a message if we wrote, or do you need to see her? We didn’t take our usual trip this summer,” Ava…she’d heard that name before. Oh! They took a trip to this lake house that belonged to one of Maggie’s accounting clients this summer…Sera’d overheard Maggie asking Inky if she was ‘okay’ and if she was sad or not that they’d done something different this year, Ellie admitted she missed Ava a whole bunch but insisted she was having a whole lot of fun with Sera and everyone and she was sure Ava understood them not coming around this summer. Sera hadn’t asked about it, she couldn’t  _help_ the Elf hearing, so she did her best to let people’s conversations be  _their_ conversations. Okay…she  _occasionally_  spilled the beans and gossiped about shite she overheard—but she only did that with Inky, so she wasn’t gonna gossip about Inky to herself. “I’m sure she misses you.”  
          “I…I miss her too, a lot but um,” Inky took in a few gaspy breaths, “I-I don’t know how we’d do that without um…I mean Sera’s a stranger to her, you know? And Sera's scared of- of strangers sometimes." Awe shite, that made Sera feel bad, they skipped out on visiting someone they loved ‘cause Sera was around? ‘cause she was socially anxious or whatever? Was she? She used to be, yeah, living with Lady new people meant trouble, people she might embarrass the woman in front of or something, but uh…that wasn’t really the case anymore, it’d been months, a mix of therapy and the lack of constant psychological and emotional torment had lead her to realize people wasn’t all bad or scary. She was pretty cool with meeting new people, and if this Ava lady was someone important to Inky, she’d be important to Sera! “And Ava's always nervous at having new people around, she'd like Sera I think, but she'd be afraid of just another person knowing she's an Apostate." Oh  _shite_  that…okay, yeah maybe she would be scared to meet Ava frick, why the hell did Inky and them know an Apostate? Oh. Frig that was conflicting! Inky just didn’t know any better, she’d make friends with an axe murderer probably…but Thom and Cyril and Maggie and David, they’d never let Ink go near someone dangerous, so…blah! Apostates  _were_ dangerous! And evil and scary! What were they thinking?! “And I’m being honest papi, I’m not sick, I’m just…”  
          Oh. Okay maybe it made sense. Magic was scary but Sera didn’t know shite about it, maybe this Ava lady had some kind of Healer magic? They’d been real cagey when Inky got pneumonia that time, talking about taking her to someone out of town who could help, but it was a long trip and they was scared she couldn’t make it, that’d it’d only hurt her or…or worse, and this person wasn’t able to come to them. So. Okay, if it was some weirdy Apostate that helped Ellie with the whole ‘staying alive’ thing… _that_ definitely wasn’t so bad.  
          “Okay, baby girl, papa and I are gonna keep you home today, lay low…it’s really bad?” it sounded like Ellie nodded. “Okay, everything’s gonna be alright honey, I promise. When Sera gets back, Samson’ll come cuddle with you okay? And I’ll talk with the others.”  
          “Don’t tell Sera about my m-“  
          “Shhhh, I got this, this is me! Your old man, smooth as silk,” Sera almost snorted and she felt a little better that Ellie giggled, around her next sniffle.  
          Oh frig, Samson wasn’t coming to snuggle if Sera didn’t get her butt moving, and Inky needed potion! Shite! She shouldn’t be eavesdropping!  
          She rushed to the door announcing, “I’m back!”  
          “There’s my girl!” Cyril offered cheerfully, Maggie and David was just coming out of their room, the Professor offering up a sleepy smile,  
          “Yes! Sera! How wonderful!” he agreed sincerely.  
          “It is, but why’re you dressed already honey? Where’d you go? Sweetheart, you must be freezing!” Maggie fussed, pulling her robe tighter around her as she crossed the room way faster than Sera’d thought she could, holy crap! She wrapped her arms around Sera and ushered her into the house, rubbing Sera’s arms like she was trying to help warm her up.  
          “I’m just fine, I don’t get cold easy,” Sera promised, handing off the little parchment bag she had from Miss Fleming’s.  
          “Sera ran a quick errand for me, Ellie needs potion,” Cyril said, peeking into the bag, “Bless you girl, this looks great.”  
          “What in heaven’s name is going on with all my babies today?” Maggie wanted to know.  
          “Sammy, go snuggle Inky okay?” Sera instructed the pup as she let him off his leash, pulled her coat off, hung it up. Samson bounded into Thom and Cyril’s room, jumping into bed. Thom came out into the kitchen just a beat later, closing the bedroom door behind him.  
          “What ails my mija?” David wondered.  
          Thom let out a tired sigh, wiggled his fingers a bit but maybe it meant he was uncertain or something? “Ellie-girl woke up upset, panicky, real scared. I uh…I know everyone has things going on today but she’s um…real worried something bad will happen,” he shared this pretty intense look with the other adults and they all seemed to get the picture.  
          “We should stay home with her then,” Maggie immediately reasoned, “I’ll send word.”  
          “Sera is that…okay with you?” Thom worried, “I could see you safely to campus and back but um…Ellie’s feelings about these things…she’s use to them being right. Uhh….”  
          “The truth is,” Cyril spoke up, “Ellie got moved around a lot before she came to live with us. Got kicked out of quite a few homes, quite literally in some cases.”  
          Sera’s heart actually stuttered in her chest, frick, people…there were people out there who actually  _hurt_ Inky? “Are they dead?” was all Sera wanted to know. ‘cause they should be.  
          Thom smiled, coming to hug her around the shoulders, “I feel the same way. First time I met Ellie-girl she was pretty beat up, expected the same from me if she quote ‘stuck around too long’ so…every once in a while she gets scared like this, and it helps if the people she’s afraid will abandon her stay close, go the extra mile to prove they won’t. I know you’ve got finals coming up-“  
          “It’s just a review day today and I can do that just as well here, I’ve got my books and things,” Sera said, “Ink’s feeling pretty bad and honestly I don’t think I could pay a bit of attention if I left things as they are. Um…” Sera cleared her throat, “She’s…it’s just like, an anxiety thing, right? It’s not like…Inky isn’t like sick or something? Like in a real bad way, chronic or whatever? Aside from, you know, asthma.”  
          “Of course not,” Thom assured and…his heart didn’t stutter or nothin’, breathing stayed the same, sometimes those things changed when people was lying. But what didn’t Inky want her to know?! “She just needs a little extra assurance today. I’ll be in, the grandparents—love are you staying?” he asked Cyril.  
          “Ha! Those fools! If they wanted me to stick around they shouldn’t’ve given me my diploma!” Cyril mocked, then, “I’d appreciate you sending word along, Mama-Maggie, that I won’t be ‘round for my shift this afternoon.”  
          Wow. So…they were really all staying in. Huh, they was taking this very seriously which…Sera supposed made sense, but Inky’d feel better after she had potion, right? She wouldn’t still be scared something bad was going to happen once they got something in her system to help her anxiety, would she? Or was it like, superstition or something, Thom said something about Ellie being used to these feelings being right so…  
          Yeah, maybe everyone should just stay in today, like, around the world, if some kind of major bullshit was brewing.  
          Sera slipped off her shoes and went to join Inky and Samson, studying could wait until the girl was feeling better or asleep or something, right now she was still kind of shaking, crying a bit as she laid next to Samson, a little fistful of his fur in her hand as she held onto the pup for comfort. Sera slid in alongside Ellie,  
          “Hey sweets,” she whispered, pressing a kiss to the littler girl’s hair, “everything’s going to be okay. We’re all going to stay in today and just relax and take a break from it all. Papa’s almost got potion ready for you, Miss Fleming hopes you feel better.”  
          Inky sniffled a bit, releasing hold on Samson to wriggle around and face Sera, snuggling right up against the Elf girl, “I love you, sissy. I love you so much.”  
          Well frig! It wasn’t anything to cry over, shite, Sera rubbed circles on Ellie’s back, “I love you too Inky, and I always always will, you got that?”  
          Ink didn’t say anything to that, just hugged Sera a bit more tightly, and Maggie and David came in not long after to join them, love on the little girl a bit and offer their own reassurances that everything was alright and they were all staying in and sticking together.  
          Potion smelled right nasty, but that was how it usually smelled, still Sera felt bad Ink had to drink it. She sat up and Cyril helped, holding the little cup to her lips and rubbing her back while she drank, and Thom followed shortly with buttered toast for her to nibble on.  
          “There’s a good girl,” Cyril praised, “you did great sweetheart. Eat as much as you can stomach, so potion doesn’t upset your tummy worse, and it should be kicking in soon.”  
          “Gracias papis,” Ellie said, picking up a piece of toast and taking a tentative bite. “It’s yummy! Does anyone wanna go halfsies with me?”  
          She ended up persuading Sera to share with her, but only ‘cause Sera could hear Thom and Cyril in the kitchen whipping up breakfast for everyone. They did get out of bed to migrate to the table together, Sera…Inky was little and she’d been so scared and feeling sick so she was getting carried! Anyone who had a problem with it could fight Sera! She hoisted the girl onto her hip  _oof_  and lugged her to the kitchen table. She let her sit in her lap and it wasn’t like she was physically sick, she was just brainy sick, so they shared a plate, Sera carefully eating over Ellie’s shoulder…might’ve gotten a little bit of scrambled egg in one of her curls but it was easily picked out. And before they even finished eating, Maggie got up to run a warm bath for Inky, insisting the girl take a soak and just relax, put whatever scary thoughts she was having trying to figure out why she woke up feeling so doom and gloom, out of her head. Sera got in with her ‘cause baths was fun and she was a little scared Inky would fall asleep in the tub all by herself, potion was starting to settle and the girl was already a little noodley, all lax and laying against Sera real quiet and content. She managed to stay awake for the most part, but she was out like a light once she was clean and dry and back in bed with her family gathered around. Sera rested against the headboard of Thom and Cyril’s bed, Thom was out too, snoring as he finally got some sleep after his shift last night. Cyril let her pile her books on their nightstand, promised to hand her whatever text she needed next, and David and Maggie quizzed her quietly. It was really laid back and she got to go at her own pace, she honestly felt a lot more ready than she thought she would have in class.  
          Soooo maybe the ‘big bad’ thing Inky’d been so panicky about was Sera failing all her finals? Staying home to study for them made her pretty confident she’d pass them so, crisis averted, right?  
          Wrong.  
         The day passed pretty unremarkably, the sky didn’t change colors, no one got sick or hurt, the Blight didn’t start up anywhere nearby from what Sera could tell. They just stayed in, read, napped, Inky was in better spirits when she woke up, still subdued but she wasn’t sad and frightened so much anymore. She was still a little on the clingy side, but no one minded much, she stayed in Maggie’s lap all through dinner, and they hadn’t really done much that day so she was still wide awake when Thom started gearing up for work—the day was almost over with, it was only a couple hours until midnight, and…nothing had gone so, they figured they were in the clear.  
          Mostly, they mostly figured. Sera hugged Thom tight once he was all uniformed up and ready to roll, and then he knelt to hug Ellie…and came up with the girl still clinging to him, hanging around his neck like the world’s biggest necklace.  
          “Ellie-girl,” Thom chuckled, hugging her back, running a hand through her hair, “everything’s okay baby.”  
          “I can go with you, I can help keep you safe,” Ellie whispered a bit miserably against Thom’s ear as quietly as she possibly could.  
          “I know baby girl, but I promise—I’ll be fine. Try to get some good sleep—if you’re feeling better you should go to school tomorrow, your last day before winter break, I’m sure your friends missed you.”  
          “Kay. I love you lots papi.”  
          “I love you more.”  
          “Lying is a sin!”  
          “Then it’s a good thing I only tell the Maker’s honest truth!” Thom insisted, peppering Inky’s hair with kisses before he set her on her feet. “Go on honey, brush your teeth, think happy thoughts, get snuggly with Sera, and have sweet dreams. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”  
          He was speaking the Maker’s honest truth. He was there,  _right there_  when they woke up. ‘bout an hour after he left, it wasn’t even midnight yet Sera didn’t think, not that she was thinking real straight or anything he ruddy woke them up with like barely an hours sleep under their belts with,  
          “Ellie, Sera, sweethearts wake up, we have to move, you have to go,” Thom said, shakin them awake.  
          “Whus’sup?” Sera mumbled, heart sort of startlin’ in her chest, what was going on? “Papi?” oh hell what was happening?! Maggie was in the room too, digging around the wardrobe and pulling out bags, stuffing Inky’s clothing inside and she- she was shaking and crying real quiet, just tears streaming down her face as she packed.  
          “Sera honey,” Thom said, “you need to get dressed and pack your things, all of them, anything you have here that you want with you and your papa’s gonna walk you to school.”  
          “In the middle of the night?!” Sera squeaked, that- what-  
          “What happened?” Ellie asked, rubbing at her eyes, trying to wake up, “Papi was it bad?”  
          “Real bad baby, oh honey I’m so sorry,” Thom breathed, pulling Ellie in for a hug and pressing a kiss to her forehead before he pulled back and said, “Something’s happened in Kirkwall. News just came in, and its coming in fast, come morning there won’t be a soul that doesn’t know and there will be searches, inspections, suspicion’s will be raised, and everyone will be on high alert for apostates. We’re gonna get ahead of that—as far as anyone is concerned, we pulled you from school early to get a head start on family vacation over the break.”  
          “What  _happened?”_  Sera asked, bit more force, he wasn’t making any sense!  
          Thom sighed, running a hand over his face, “There…there’s been an attack in Kirkwall* sweethearts, the entire place is…it’s destroyed. Qunari rampaging in the streets, Templars knocking down every door—the Mage Circle there has fallen, its Mages are rebelling, that’s all I can get out of anything that came in when I first got to work,” Thom said.  
          Oh…oh frig, holy crap. Mages was going crazy all over the place? But in Kirkwall, what did that have to do with here? Was all the mages gonna rebel, did they need to get further away from Ansbu-  
          “I’m supposed to be patrolling the area, but my partner’s covering for me,” he continued, like he was assuring Ellie, “As far as everyone else at work is concerned, you’re already half way to Auntie Glenda’s with your papa and abuelos, and that’ll be true just as soon as you get moving. Once I get you out safe, I’ll wrap up my shift and make sure everything seems normal, before joining you.” Auntie Glen…oh, Cyril’s big sister. She was like, in Wycome or somethin’, she moved there with her husband when Cyril was like fifteen or somethin’, ages ago. To this beachy place Ellie told her about, they apparently went to visit her every once in a while, they’d talked about taking Sera up this spring to meet Cyril’s family.  
          “Why am I going to school?” Sera wanted to know.  
          Thom looked to her, expression softening from taught panic, “You’ve worked so hard, and if we pulled you now, it would be suspicious. Honey, we’re not  _leaving_  you—Leo’ll meet you at the gate—it’ll be locked this time of night, but he’ll get you in, if anyone sees you you’ve been out with your roommate all evening roaming campus and you’ve been at school, in your dorm room, sick today. You go to your room with Leo, go to your classes like normal, and you stay there honey. Stay put all weekend, go to your finals next week. I promise, I  _promise_  sweetheart, we’ll all be back together once you’re through with this semester, come First Day we’ll be together again, you have my word.”  
          “I’ll be with you,” David friggin! Okay they seriously needed to stop with the startling people thing! He was just suddenly in the doorway looking…frick, he just looked  _wrecked_ , “It will be suspicious enough as it stands, but we can’t risk keeping Ellie here—I’ll stay and hold down the fort, handle any guards that show up, cover Maggie’s classes, be here for Sera if she needs me—if you can’t come back here for First Day, if this hasn’t blown over by then, we’ll come to you.”  
          “Glenda doesn’t know we’re coming yet, but I sent word,” Cyril said as he came into the room, “through secure channels, I’m not new,” he assured when all the adults ruddy stopped breathing and looked at him like he was mad, “She’ll be ready and waiting, Ellie’ll be safe there, won’t you bug?”  
          Inky was shaking like a leaf, crying and just choked up like she was afraid she’d just start blubbering if she opened her mouth to speak.  
          “Maybe we can all stay on campus?” Sera tried, she got needing to either get the hell out of dodge or get behind the safe secure walls the University would provide against hell-raising mages, “It’s not like anyone uses your offices at night, maybe between the two spaces and my room we can all-“  
          “Sweetheart, we don’t have much time and I know this is all very confusing but we- we have to get Ellie out of the city.”  
          “What?! Why?!” that was- that was just crazy talk! She got it, the school wasn’t going to let anything go down on campus, even if there were Apostates the Templars would keep things from getting violent, they’d all be safe there, why couldn’t- “Inky sweets, what is it?” Sera asked, and Ellie wouldn’t look at her, chin quivering, eyes just these great pools of sadness, glittering with tears and Sera would do anything,  _anything_ to make her stop crying.  
          “P-papi wants to get me out of the city before they start looking for apostates everywhere,” Ellie said quietly, her voice hallow as she stared into her hands before looking up at Sera. “If they test me for magic, they’ll take me away.”  
          … “Yeah, sweets, if you were a mage, but you’re way too young for any of that, and there’s no way you-“ she looked up to the adults in the room, “what the hell is wrong with all of you? Inky’s been scared out of her mind all day and yeah I know mage rebellion is freaking you out but making Inky think she’d test positive for magic is-“  
          It almost felt like something physically clicking in her brain.  
          Cause they wouldn’t scare Ellie for the world, not even if they thought it was the best way to get her out of harms way.  
          The thing Sera didn’t need to know. The thing that would be dangerous for her to know, if she thought back to that weird conversation Inky had with Thom that day…that day Sera said how scared she was of Mages to Inky.  
           _I love you lots. I’ll always love you, and be your best friend, even if you ever aren’t mine, okay?  
_          Ellie…knew how scared Sera was. Knew that Sera…that Sera hated Mages and she took that and just…hid herself. She was friggin afraid that Sera would hate her.  
           _I understand. Mages are scary.  
_          “…you…you’re a mage.”  
          Ellie’s entire expression crumbled, just sobbing, and squeaking out, “I’m sorry!”  
          “You’re- you’re only little, that- that isn’t…possible-”  
          “Magic woke up in me a few years ago,“ Ellie explained, quiet.  
          And then she splayed her hand before Sera and it friggin glowed, purple. Wasn’t sure what purple did she didn’t find out, Ellie stopped and tucked her hands behind her back when Sera flinched.  
          This…none of this made-  
          It wasn’t real! None of it was real, it couldn’t be! Inky wasn’t scary! She wasn’t evil or mean or- or powerful! She was just a lovey little girl, sweet, and kind, and-  
          And a liar.  
          And…and her sister. This….this was confusing and Sera felt so  _stupid_ and she-  
          They lied! All of them! This entire time! And Sera didn’t know what to do with that. It- this was-  
          But…Templars. They would take Ellie away. She’d be locked away in a Circle. Where she belonged, right? If she really was a mage?  
          She was just a kid, she was tiny! And she had a family! And she-  
          It made Sera’s tummy feel squirmy, the thought that Inky could’ve been dragged away and thrown in a Circle away from the people she loved, that she could be one of those Tranquils Sera saw in Chantry. Dead eyed and singing hallow songs she doesn’t feel, songs Sera’s heard Inky sing with all her little heart how much she loves her Maker.  
          This was all so! So friggin’ confusing!  
          “S-Sera please don’t cry, I’m so so sor-“ Ellie begged.  
          “Shut up! Get away from me!" Sera cut her off, pissed all to hell, but she saw Ellie flinch and for some stupid reason still felt the need to try and dampen the blow, "Just- I should pack,” Sera allowed, rubbing at her eyes with the back of her hands before she rose up from the bed to put distance between them before she looked to Cyril, “I can walk to school by myself.”  
          “Sera don’t be ridiculous-“ Cyril objected but,  
          “I’m staying already,” David interjected, “I can escort Sera and make sure she’s safe, we’ll stick together with our respective groups. I’ll return here of course, if anyone comes through with any suspicions I’ll do my best to dissuade them.”  
          “But Abuelo, wh- what if they hurt you!“ Ellie worried.  
          “Shhhh, mija, it will be  _fine_ ,” the man assured her, patting her on the head, “This is all very scary, I know, but sweetheart, everything is going to be okay. We’ll stick together and see this through.”  
          “We made a commitment to you, when we brought you into this house—both of you,” Maggie spoke up as she joined her husband, looking between Ellie and Sera, “We will always protect you. Now,” she cleared her throat, “I’ve arranged something of a distraction, one of my sources is in the area and he’s agreed to cause a disturbance that will occupy any prying eyes that might otherwise see us leaving the city. As far as any are concerned, we were already gone before any of this started—we did not flee suspicion, we merely went on our preplanned vacation that coincidentally put us out of chaos’s way. I’ve packed for you my sweet girl,” she assured Ellie, “You just go bundle up and go with your papi. David,” she looked to her husband, “I would ask that you keep Samson with you, please.”  
          “He should be with you and Ellie-“ David started.  
          “Sammy will keep you safe!” Inky insisted, “Sammy! If any meanie Templars come around Abuelo or Sera you- you- you bite them! Or maybe just bark at them real mean! Unless they hurt mi familia, then you bite them really really hard until they stop!”  
          Sera didn’t…she didn’t know what to think or do or say so, she was busy packing! She waved him off when Thom stepped back into the room once he and the others were ready to leave and said they were heading out, heard everyone saying goodbye to David,  
          “Um…Sera?” Ellie was in the doorway and Sera was so not in the mood to even look at her right now so, she didn’t, just kept her back to the door. “I love you, and I’m really sorry-“  
          “I don't care, sorry doesn't freaking fix things, you're not suddenly not an _apostate_ just 'cause you say 'sorry'-" Sera cleared her throat. She wanted to yell until she felt better but there was still something that made her feel squirmy, sick, for yelling at Ellie. "Just get going already.”  
         “Come on baby,” Maggie said, taking Ellie up onto her hip, “We love you, honey,” she offered Sera before leaving, David seeing them out. Once the door was closed behind them, Inky let out a quiet little,  
          “Bye, be safe,” to Sera, she supposed.  
          She’d already be safe if Ellie wasn’t a ruddy  _apostate!  
_          Sera packed up the textbooks she’d brought home, grabbed some clothes she kept here ‘cause she wasn’t sure when she’d be back, packed up a few of her books…  
          Oh shite. Russel.  
          Not person Russel—bear Russel. Maggie’d packed up clothes and things, Sera’d seen a few books slip into Ellie’s pack, but she supposed Maggie thought Ellie would never forget her bear, would take it with her from bed but she’d left him to go put on her coat and- and-  
          Sera picked him up and tucked him away in her pack. She’d make sure he stayed safe and made his way back to Ellie one way or another. Wasn’t…wasn’t real sure she’d be the one giving him back, but David would probably do it right?  
          She…she had a full scholarship to Markahm. If…she needed, she could apply late to their intersession courses—a semester long class squished into the two week winter break, a eight hour classes, you’re expected to study and do homework when you’re out of class, and you get to stay on campus. She could do that here, in the spring too…take summer classes. And if David didn’t approve he could eat it, she’d just- she’d get a friggin job somewhere else on campus, for another professor or work in the cafeterias or get a job off campus, wherever, so she could stay emancipated.  
          “Sera, sweetheart? Are you ready?” David asked.  
          Ready? To walk out of this house for the very last time?  
          Cause there was no way in hell any of this was okay. Sera was pretty sure it’d never be okay again. ‘least, that’s what it felt like.  
          She looked around their room one last time, dumb bed she slept with a friggin’ tiny little demon magnet every night for almost a Maker damned year! And the stupid yellow desk a bunch of lying liars got her because they ‘loved’ her. Loved her, huh? So much they- they let her just hang around the worlds weakest apostate frick! She was just a kid! A stupid, dumb, way-too-friendly kid, if a demon came her way she’d just let it right in no doubt! ‘Oh you don’t have a body? That must make you so sad! Here, have mine!’. This was dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb!  
          She should throw her  _stupid_ little stuffed bear in the river or something!  
          But it…the little guy hadn’t done anything. He couldn’t help it Ellie was a freaking- freak! And she was…she was still a kid so…okay, yeah David could take Russel back. She’d give him to the guy as soon as they got to school, once she was there safe she- she- she never wanted to talk to him again! She never wanted to talk to any of them again! She  _was_ going to quit her job and- and maybe change majors…wait she was only at Markham because she was recruited  _to_ the science department. Frick. Well she’d only seem him in class then! And he was old, maybe he’d retire soon! Or maybe they’d all get arrested or something-  
          She…she didn’t want that. But they would be, for harboring an Apostate if Ellie got found out. Well…that wasn’t Sera’s fault! She-  
          She wasn’t sure what to do! She wanted them to hurt for hurting her…and she still loved them! Didn’t want them hurt at all, ever for any reason! How do you hurt and not-hurt someone at the same time?!  
          She was pretty sure this was it. They was doing it to her. Hurting and not-hurting. Because this was  _killing_  Sera, and they were doing it with her best interests still in mind, made sure they could keep both Ellie and Sera safe.  
          “Sera? I know…this is a lot to absorb right now. I am sorry this is how you found out. Ellie…it is her choice, who knows and who doesn’t, about her magic. She made it clear you weren’t to be told—not to fool or trick or betray, but to protect you, sweetheart. What if you were ever questioned, even in passing, by the Templars that patrol the city, the Chantry—she didn’t want you to have to lie, and she didn’t want you to live in fear.”  
          Sera scoffed. “Well I’m ruddy well  _terrified_ now that I know I’ve been in strangling distance of a little brat that could be demon possessed at any moment!” she snapped.  
          David looked like she’d slapped him. And then he looked…just about as close to pissed as she’d ever seen him, but he took a deep breath and, “Sera I understand this is very stressful and you may be speaking purely from hurt, but are…are you afraid of Apostates? Prejudice against mages?”  
          “Well I don’t exactly go out of my way to get to fucking know any mages unless—hello—tricked into it!”  
          “Ahh. Well then. I suppose we should have reasoned it out ourselves.”  
          “Reasoned what out?!”  
          “When she claimed it was best not to tell you, to not even speak of the subject would be best for you. Protect you, and not from Templars, apparently. She came to this conclusion neigh less than a month of you living in this house. You made her aware of your feelings about Mages?” Sera nodded. And then David spoke in subdued, measured tones, like he was thinking through each and every word before he said it, “Well then, it seems she meant protect you from us being aware of such a thing. You were always so…neutral about the Circle Mages visiting our Chantry, even spoke positively about them, we thought you were at least agreeable to their existence,” well yeah, she said some nice shite after Ellie got so upset that one time, “that you had compassion for the fact they were born with something they did not ask for. If we had known you felt this way…well sweetheart we love you,” he cleared his throat and met her eye, assuring her, “and believe you me, whatever may come of this, we will always love you, you  _are_ a part of this family and will always be considered as such,” he said, “but if we’d known this back when you first moved in? Before we grew so close?”  
          _They don’t need to know you’re scared, I know, and I’ll…I’ll always protect you Sera, okay? So they don’t need to know.  
_          She- that- they loved her…and they only loved her this much, she only had a family because Ellie-  
          She didn’t- she didn’t ask her to do any of that! She didn’t ask her to do any of that at all, right from the beginning! It was probably her werido magic shite that told her Sera was in trouble when they met and that- she wished it’d kept it’s creepy stupid magic mouth shut!  
          “We made a promise to help you and we would have stuck by that, but you certainly wouldn’t have been as welcome into our lives. Instead of having you save your wages, we would have seen to it you found safe lodging elsewhere, been…friendly, but our situation certainly wouldn’t be what it is today. You would see our absence tomorrow—I would be with them now, you understand—maybe wonder at it, but it wouldn’t affect you in the slightest. You’d have been living on your own, have an amicable work relationship with me, just as Leo does. If we’d known what a danger to Ellie you might be, we would have seen to it that once you could afford to live on your own you’d be doing just that, and she knew that, but wanted to share her family with you regardless. So you think on that, what a little freak of nature has done, because she loves you, and wanted you to know that love. I apologize for the hurt it has caused.” His eyes was wet by the time he finished. Frick! He didn’t get to do that—he didn’t get to be all teary and make her feel like shite for being so- so-  
          “Well you don’t have to worry about that. You can all just stuff it!” Sera snapped at him, “I’ll keep my mouth shut about Ellie, but I won’t be coming back here, ever! I’ll- I’m staying on campus! And I’ll find my own place! And you lot can just leave me the hell alone!”  
          “I understand you’re angry now, Sera. If you do find you truly mean what you’re saying, of course, we wouldn’t keep you prisoner.”  
          “I  _do_  mean it!”  
_Probably!  
_          David grimaced, his mouth a solid line that said he doubted that, but wasn’t going to say so out loud. “…you’ve everything you need?” Sera nodded. “Well then, if you’ll just give me a moment,” he held up an index finger and then disappeared into him and Maggie’s room, she could hear him opening a nightstand drawer and then sliding it closed and he emerged holding this clinky little leather pouch full of coin he pocketed once he joined her again. “Alright. Shall we? Are you warm enough Miss Rainier?”  
          Fuck!  
          Her name! It was their name now! Shite!  
          She was so changing it again!  
          Sera just let out a little growl at that and then, “Let’s go.”  
          They were dead silent the entire walk to campus. David kept close without taking her arm or anything, leading her through this weird ass way of getting to Uni, but they barely met a soul this route, no guards anyway, so she supposed that was why. Though Sera could hear echos from uptown as they neared campus, main streets, there was all kinds of screaming and something about a ‘crazed Qunari!’, and this loud, booming bass voice breaking against the sky. Whatever was on, it sounded like the guards were occupied. She…was pretty glad they left Sammy behind, poor pup, she felt bad she hadn’t said goodbye to him. But she wasn’t exactly in much of a talky mood anymore. Mabari was dumb anyway, in a couple weeks, maybe a couple days, he’d forget all about Sera probably, wouldn’t even be sad about it.  
          They were almost to a side gate onto campus, Sera could hear Leo’s heart thumping nervously in his chest, breathin’ nervous as he gulped, looking around for them to show up. David stopped her just before they rounded the corner though and said,  
          “I’ll leave you in Leo’s hands then. I’ll still be in town until the end of finals if you need anything-“  
          “I won’t.”  
          “Well, if you do,” he offered lightly as he shrugged. “My door will always be open to you my brilliant girl,” he assured, holding out the little coin purse he’d gotten from him and Maggie’s room.  
          “You don’t friggin have to pay me off or any-“  
          “This is your rent, my dear,” he said, “A portion of it, at least. Maggie has saved every bit you’ve paid us—thirty-one coppers a month, for the seven months before school started. Your last month of rent is in here,” he said, pressing the bag into Sera’s hand, “but the rest of it she’s put away in investments made in your name, accounts she planned to make you aware of upon either your moving out, or her death, as the Maker has blessed us that the circumstance is the former…as soon as I can be in contact with her I’ll let her know she should send you all the paperwork you need so you know how to access everything.”  
          “But-“ that…she was supposed to pay-  
          David smiled softly. “You only needed proof that you’ve been paying rent. It’s none of the government’s business what Maggie chose to do with that money. You’ve a life after schooling, my dear. She wanted you to have something to help you with a strong start.”  
          That was dumb! Maggie could’ve- thirty one coppers…friggin two hundred, seventeen coppers after ten months, that was two silver! By now Maggie could’ve bought herself something nice with that! Or Inky or someone-  
          “That’s- I can’t-“  
          “We don’t make Ellie pay to live with her family.” David shrugged. “Be well. If you need anything let me know.”  
          Sera nodded, biting her lip as she turned her back on him,  and she heard him follow a bit—keeping his distance but just peeking around the corner to see her make it safely to the gate where Leo waited. And then, very softly,  
          “Te amo siempre, mija.”  
          Shite!  
          “Sera,” Leo breathed a sigh of relief, letting her in the gate and closing it as quietly as he possibly could before he hugged her tightly. “Thank the Maker—you didn’t run into any trouble, did you?”  
          Sera…couldn’t answer him past the lump in her throat. She was experiencing a world of trouble right now. She wanted to scream and cry and hate them all for lying but she couldn’t, she loved them and that sucked and all she wanted was to drop everything and run back to David and give him a hug and promise him she loved him for friggin siempre too! Forget finals and go- go track down the others, scream at them until she felt better and then get some ruddy answers, none of this made sense!  
          How the hell could- what sort of ruddy Maker made someone as sweet and lovey as Inky a Mage?!  
           _Mother Wendy says the Maker doesn’t make mistakes, but I think that’s selling Him short—He’s the Make-er! He can make the most biggest best decisions, and colossal mistakes!  
_          Sera shook her head, kind of trying to just shake her stupid brain, make it shut up! But it also worked for answering Leo.  
          “Good, okay, come on Ser’, let’s get you in,” Leo said, leading her along a sidewalk that wrapped its way around the outermost part of campus, taking her kind of a weird rout to the girl’s dormitory, to her and Rosie’s room.  
          …or maybe it was just Sera’s room now.  
          “Where…where’s Rosie?”  
          Oh  _shite_. She couldn’t- there was no freaking way-  
          “Her aunt and uncle live in Kirkwall—their son’s a Circle Mage,” Leo said as he took a seat on Rose’s bed, Sera went ahead and sat down on her own across from him, “it’s a whole mess. When word got to us what happened, she went home—parents live uptown, over on 5th? To tell them, wait up with them for uh…news.”  
          Oh…shite. That- “That really sucks.”  
          Leo nodded. “How’re you holding up? I’m proud of you for sticking around, keeping it together. I mean shit, I’m kind of freaking out—Ellie seemed okay?”  
          … “You…you know about…?”  
          “Yeah babe, of course. It’ll sound silly but she  _kind_  of helped me disclose to David and them. She was one of the first people to just look at me and just…immediately treat me like a man. I was nervous as hell at the department’s open house. But her,” he wiggled his friggin fingers. Damn it! That was a ruddy signal! Inky and Thom and them, they all used it, and  _now_ Sera was let in the loop that it meant freaking magic! “it gave her a heads up. She’d met people like me before, and her magic is scary accurate about things like that—she explained that her magic told her I was a boy.”  
          … “Really?” it does stuff like that? Oh shite, they’d been for real serious when the adults said Ellie’s bad feelings usually had merit. It’d been her  _magic_ making her so scared earlier. Oh. Okay, Sera definitely  _didn’t_  like that, her magic freaking the poor little thing out, that didn’t sound nice-  
          Sera.  
          “Sera?”  
          “She freaking called me Sera before I told her- her m- her thing freaking does that?!”  
          Leo shrugged, “If you were already Sera on the inside? Yeah, probably.”  
          “How…when’d she tell you? About her,” Sera flapped her hand clumsily.  
          “Maybe a week or so after we first met?” Friggin’ seriously?! “I hadn’t disclosed to David yet and there’d been…there’s just times it helps that someone in charge be in the know? Especially with the two assistants helping out before you came along, they…were cool after a while but there was a lot of misgendering me to put me down, it was this messed up way of manipulating me into being a whipping post, take all the shit jobs, do most of the work or whatever. That stopped once I went to David, but before I could do that, I had to…go to David? Like I couldn’t just say ‘hey, Tegan keeps telling me to run along, be a doll and make the coffee like a good girl, and Avery always says thanks little lady when I do anything I might actually have been proud about’ without a little context. So I was pretty much set on just sucking it up and letting them get away with it.”  
          “They graduated right? They don’t still go here? Cause if they’re around…I’ll be right back.”  
          Leo chuckled at that, “They’re long gone hun.”  
          “So…how did Inky come into play?”  
          “I was pacing back and forth in front of David’s office for like, an hour, and out comes Ellie-bug. She asks me what I’m up to, and eventually we just sit down in the middle of the empty hallway and I’m opening up to her, sort of like a practice run? And she admits she knew, thanked me for trusting her, and assures me I needn’t worry about that—she hadn’t told David, but she was positive he wouldn’t be mean to me about it or anything. I couldn’t help it, being born a boy misassigned at birth. But,” he gestured to Sera, “well, I’m sure you know too, all about how much judgment you can get for something you’re born with. I didn’t think Ellie’d get it. I mean there…I’ve known people who’ve been killed over their gender identity because they came out. And there she was, this sweet little girl—a girl through and through—with this amazing family and great support system, and nothing in the world to hide,” he blew out a breath, “Maker, was I wrong. She asked me a few little ‘feeling me out’ questions to see how well I would respond, what I thought about Mages and Apostates, and then ‘came out’ as an Apostate, leveled with me, said she knew what it was like to be different and hated for it, and that David would never discriminate. She…I mean shit—you know she almost died when she was discovered as a mage? Oh. crap, she- I’m sorry, has she talked about that with you any?”  
          Hadn’t talked about any of it any, not really but,  
          But Thom and Cyril had.  
_Got kicked out of quite a few homes, quite literally in some cases  
_“What…what do you mean ‘almost died’?” Sera wanted to know.  
_First time I met Ellie-girl she was pretty beat up, expected the same from me if she quote ‘stuck around too long’  
_          ...and got found out as a mage.  _Shite.  
_          Guy looked real uncomfortable, wrenching a hand at the back of his neck as he adverted his gaze, “Oi! Look at me and answer the freakin question!”  
          “It’s Ellie’s bus-“  
          “Ellie isn’t here right now! And I don’t know where she is or- or when I’ll ever see her again,” oh frick frick frick, the realization that that was er…a real possibility, friggin struck home then.  
          “Don’t think like that Ser’—you’ll see her as soon as possible,” Leo assured, “She’s safe, I guarantee it—Aaron hasn’t reported in yet,” Aaron? That big lug was in on this somehow? “But I’ll sit up with you until he does. Is that okay? I’m not talking about Ellie’s personal business behind her back.”  
          She felt sick. To her stomach, in her heart, she wasn’t sure what she felt about all of this other than sick. But she…frick had she seriously been considering  _choosing_  to  _never_ seeing Ellie again? She’d been so pissed and angry and hurt, but now the thought that she really wouldn’t terrified her—like it normally would—what if she really did never see Inky again? She- she was tiny and Templars were after people were after her! And Sera- Sera’d been so  _mean!_ She was angry but- but what if that was the last time- oh shite she needed to understand, get to grips with this bullshit, she had to make this right, she didn’t want to be like those arseholes that hurt Ellie! What if the last thing she ever said to her was to shut up and leave! What if that was it, what if she never saw any of them again—Maggie or Thom or  _Cyril-  
__Every once in a while she gets scared like this and it helps if the people she’s afraid will abandon her stay close.  
_           _Oh shite!  
_          She- she had to stay behind right? But she- she let Inky leave! After yelling! And telling her to get away from her! Shite shite shite!  
          “Sera? Sera oh honey hey, hey hey hey shhhh everything’s okay,” Leo soothed, his hands on her shoulders as he knelt before her, “Come on, look at me, and breathe, alright? In and out.”  
          “I- I- I- I yelled at her! And I said just the stupidest shite to abuelo! And- and I-“ oh frick! “I didn’t even say goodbye!” Sera half-wailed as Leo pulled her in for a hug, rubbing circles on her back as she sobbed.  
          “Everything happened so fast, I’m sure they meant to say goodbye to you-“  
          “They did! They were going to, but I was too busy being such a huge bitch about everything I- I just ignored them! And now they’re out there and I don’t know where they are or if they’re okay and I need- I need to find-“  
          “Hey. Breathe, focus. Let’s calm down and talk this out once you’re more grounded—if you wait just a little bit I promise we’ll get an update on how they made it out of the city.”  
          Sera took a few deep breaths, tried to stop rambling. “Okay. Hit me with some logic.”  
          “You really should stay here if you can, soldier out your finals, keep everything looking normal. Maggie used Aaron’s connections to make it look like all the missing Markham U members of clan Rainier are off on a prescheduled vacation—a TA and a secretary in Maggie’s and the Security Office respectively, are going to come in tomorrow morning and find some approved time off paperwork they, as far as they know, overlooked and didn’t acknowledge in the schedule. It’ll be a little bit of scrambling for them but it’s better that the suddenness of their leaving looks like a clerical mistake—that they filed for time off and someone dropped the ball making it clear in the guard rotation and on Maggie’s class schedule—than like they up and ran in the middle of the night as soon something happened that’s going to have Templars busting down the door of every house hold looking for hidden apostates and run-away rebel Mages trying to escape Kirkwall, or hell—people are worried all the Circles will rebel.”  
          “Can’t I just-“  
          “What? Skip finals so you can go on vacay with the fam?” Leo drawled. Okay, that was a good point. Damn it. “You staying on campus and finishing up makes everything look normal—families where everyone’s on a different schedule do that all the time, especially when their kids have different school schedules, Ellie’s off before you and she’s in like, what? Fifth grade? No one at her school’s going to cause a fuss that she’s being pulled out early when their last day is totally a fluff day. So your family got a head start on vacationing, made plans, it turned out you’d still be in finals so, while it sucks to suck, you’ll just have to wait and leave to join them as soon as your last final is done—what’s your finals schedule like?”  
          “I’ve got two on Monday, ugh,” Sera groaned, weird how just an hour ago it’d been her biggest problem in life—“ruddy  _three_  on Tuesday,” still kind of was, but what seemed even worse now was, “and one on Wednesday.”  
          “Which one?”  
          “Wednesday? Music Theory.”  
          “Hey, Martin’s intense about his music, but he’s a decent guy—if you want I can go with you to his office hours and we’ll see if maybe he’ll let you move your final to Monday or something? That way Tuesday once you’re done…”  
          Sera gasped, he was a freaking genius! “Oh frig- Abuelo’s lab finals are on Tuesday! So friggin! We’d both be done!”  
          “Exactly! I mean…sucks to do three and three but…your ass is the one that signed up for six classes.”  
          “I know,” Sera groaned, “I was a different person then, younger, naive, thought that signing up for 18 credit hours was a good move, have a strong start—I don’t even know that bitch now, she’s dead to me and I’m taking the minimum 12 hours next semester, my hand to the freaking Maker.”  
          Leo laughed at that,. “So, Tuesday then.”  
          Tuesday. Felt like freaking forever away!  
          There was a soft tap against the windowpane, Sera jumped, frick! She hadn’t been paying attention! Arron was ruddy-!  
          “Cripes!” Sera shrieked, rearing back and using the momentum to pivot forward and jump, get to the window as quick as possible to pull it open and let Aaron in, the daft man had been perched on the windowsill like literal  _loon!  
_          “Thanks Ser’, you’re a pal,” Aaron said as he clumsily fell into the room, friggin they was two stories up! How the hell he get there?! Why was he all geared up ruddy- looked like a proper rogue, leather trench coat, bow and arrows strapped to his back, this big bright red scarf wrapped around his neck, “Oh man, gimme a sec, whew!” he breathed out, sweatin’ up a storm as he pulled his weapons off his back let them clatter beside him as he laid on the floor, trying to catch his breath. “Okay, holy shit. Maggie’s got some interesting connections,” he sighed, groaning a bit as he sat up, “Everyone’s out safe—guy Maggie hired to wreak a little havoc has been ‘apprehended’ by Thom, who just so happened to get injured in the process so he’s been given leave to heal up-“  
          Air sort got stuck in Sera's lungs for a sec, “Thom’s hurt?!” Oh Maker! No no no no-  
          Aaron waved his hands dismissively, “Calm down, sorry—he’s fine, little banged up, just enough so he  _looks_  hurt, can exaggerate how bad it is enough to get out and go make sure the others get to your aunt’s safe.” Her aunt’s? Oh. Oh right. Duh. That…they was family, this ‘Aunt Glen’ was hers, she guessed. “It’s a bit of a stretch, dangerous territory—connection Maggie used to distract the guards, Thom handled his arrest—guy’s in lockup right now, and Thom’ll spring him later once his bail’s set, then he and his crew will give them safe passage to Wycome, and they’ll be back for you and the Professor—Maggie or one of your dad’s will make the return trip too, to make sure for themselves you’re safe.”  
          Sera breathed a sigh of relief. “Inky…she’s okay?”  
          “Physically yeah, but that’s all the info I’m good for. Didn’t make contact, I just watched their backs, kept lines of communication going with my Friends to make sure I could come give you and the professor some peace of mind—got a Friend heading to your house now.”  
          “Like…Jeremy and Rosie and them?”  
          “Oh, nah babe, Friends, capital F,” Aaron tugged on his scarf, “Organization…sort of. The Friends of Red Jenny. Lots of people—little people, regular jobs or serving staff in big places like the college or noble houses—they have a little network, communicate with one another to help each other out, mostly pranks and looking out for each other.”  
          “Huh?”  
          “Okay, it’s like this—I work in the college bookshop, right? So last year, there’s a group of seniors that kept coming in and trashing the place, I’d have to clean up after their mess, get in trouble for it even though I had nothing to do with it, I was about to lose my job—I complain about it at lunch one day, that complaint got overheard from someone in the cafeteria who just turns out to be a Friend—she passed word along, one thing led to another, and a Friend of Red Jenny came and…well you don’t need the details, it was actually kind of gross, but the guys got the drift they should respect people’s property. Next thing I know, they’re coming into the bookstore and apologizing to management and taking responsibility for all the messes. Friend who works in the cafeteria got in contact with me, said the Friends had done me a favor and asked if I’d like to return them one someday. So,” he shrugged, “I joined. Turns out Maggie’s sort of an honorary Friend? She found out about the organization’s existence on campus and doesn’t rat us out as long as no one does anything too extreme, we honest to the Maker just stick up for the little guy, and she can call on favors when she needs them—like tonight.”  
          “Wowza,” Sera breathed, “So they helped out making sure everything went okay tonight?”  
          "Yup," Aaron said, "and we have ways of communicating with Friends in other places—they're from all over—so I'll get reports on your family's progress to Wycome whenever they can send someone our way to make sure you and David know they're safe. Working on helping Apostate Friends get out of the city, so all of us non-magicals, we're keeping our ears open, be able to tell you guys when it's safe to come back, if we hear anything about Ellie in particular, I'll get word to your dads right away—I doubt that'll happen, but if they catch Miss Fleming...well. She's a strong woman and obviously your dads trust her, but Templars have ways of getting information out of people, if they think she knows other Apostates, she might start giving out her roster."  
          "Roster?" wait,  _"Fleming's_  an Apostate?!"  
          "Well yeah babe, she's Ellie's trainer once a week—for magical control and whatnot? They not tell you who she was seeing for that?" Aaron asked.  
          “They didn’t tell me anything I…” Sera sighed. Frustrated. At them, at herself, at this whole thing. “Inky had her own ‘feeling out my feelings on apostates’ session I guess. And I kind of failed big time,” Leo looked a bit confused at that, “I…Magic’s ruddy terrifying! I thought it was evil and scary! And so I told Inky so, it really really upset her. But she said she ‘got it’ and that we just didn’t have to ever talk about it again that…she’d always protect me. Oh cripes, frick frick frick I’ve messed this up something bad!”  
          “Wait, so you just…didn’t know? Until tonight?” Leo asked, wide-eyed as Sera nodded.  
          Aaron blew out a low whistle of disbelief, “Okay, that’s rough.”  
          “Oh my god, Sera honey, shit uhh, how…” Leo seemed to be searching for words, looking to Aaron.  
          “Uhhhhhh…you wanna…” Aaron fumbled,  
          “Talk about it?” Leo finally worked to.  
          “Yeah! Feelings! Emotional turmoil!” Aaron cheered, “Wait—where the hell does Rosie keep her snacks and nail polish?”  
          What?  
          “Full on girls night—on it,” Leo said, rising up from the bed and going to the little cupboard on Rose’s side of the room, “What color you want your nails painted Ser’?” he asked over his shoulder.  
          Sera snorted, “Surprise me.”  
          “Do not surprise me!” Aaron insisted, “I’m a  _soft_  autumn, I’ll accept dusty pink and nothing else!”  
          “Soft autumn?” Sera wondered, amused.  
          “I’m a neutral beige who tans easily—golden brown hair, and these big brown looky-loos in my noggin? Soft autumn! Pamela says so!” ahh, well if his fiancee says so…yeah, she was apprenticing in one of the local tailor’s shops, so, she probably knew what she was about. The Human man groaned and lumbered to his feet to go pilfering in the little tray Leo pulled out of Rose’s things, full of clinky bottles of nail polish.  
          “What kind of autumn am I then?”  
          Aaron friggin scoffed! “You’re not—you’re a summer, baby, get with the program—light summer. I know just the thing!”  
          So, Aaron, Leo, and Sera gathered on the floor of her room, eating potato crisps and painting each other’s nails, and letting Sera vent her entire friggin’ spleen. Sounded gross, ‘vent your spleen’ but Maggie said it from time to time and right now Sera pretty well got it.  
          Magic was scary, Sera’d always been afraid of it, ever since she was just tiny. Probably because she was just tiny and all alone before Lady, and everything was terrifying when you were small and fending for yourself—big people were scary enough all on their own, could do all sorts of terrible things, but then freaking  _magic_ was a thing? Chantry taught her real early that magic and mages was dangerous, least the one she scarcely remembered going to—they usually had meals after service so when she was first on her own that was sometimes her only consistent source of food, before she got caught friggin’ stealing. Lady always freaked out—hated mages, magic, warned Sera if she turned out to be one of those freak elves with magic she’d-  
          Well shite.  
          “Lady’s a bitch—I should figure anything she says is shite. Magic…magic can’t be that bad if…” Sera, frick, she felt like she might cry again, “Inky…really is a mage?”  
          “Yup,” Leo assured her, little ‘pop’ to the p that meant it was 100% real.  
          “Well…she’s not scary. Or mean. Or evil.” So maybe magic wasn’t _as_ bad as she’d always feared.  
          “Or dangerous. Ellie’s pretty solid magic-wise. I haven’t got an ounce of magic in me and _I’m_ more likely to get demon possessed than she is,” Aaron assured. “She’s…kind of an honorary Friend too. Saved my ass from getting knifed when I got in a little bit over my head trying to mess with one of the local gangs that kept mugging students when they’d come right off campus.”  
          “How the hell did Inky get involved with that?!”  
          “Her and Fleming have to leave the city to find a safe space to train—I swear the Maker was just looking out for me, she was just on her way back from lessons with Fleming and Thom. Thom was a big help, but this dude had…well knife wasn’t the right word—guy had an axe coming right at my head and Ellie put him on his back—had me covered in barrier, thunderclapped his ass.”  
          “Holy shit!” Sera shrieked. Ellie could freaking wield thunder?! Or, er…lightning more like, shite!  
          “That’s what I said!” Aaron enthused. "He had a hand around my throat at that point and Ellie's spell didn't so much as graze me," he said, then,“I’m sorry, you know? That they didn’t tell you.”  
          Sera shrugged. “Still…kind of mad about it. But I mostly just wish- I mean I wish I’d known before I ever said something that made Ellie afraid to tell me.” She blew out a sigh… “Oh holy…Inky friggin set Lady on fire!”  
          “What?!” the boys yelped in unison.  
          “Not Lady exactly—her pamphlet thing! In Chantry—I told Ellie that Lady beat the crap out of me and  _poof!_  Lady’s pamphlet went up in flames! I thought it just caught on a candle thingy but…”  
          “I’d set that bitch on fire for-“ Leo choked on his words a minute before he worked to, “she  _beat-“  
_          “Sera,” Aaron breathed, oh shite, he looked kind of teary, took her hands real careful, “baby, jeez…I’m…I’m sorry all of this is happening but uh…I’m glad the Rainiers were able to get you away from her.”  
          “Me too,” Sera sniffled. And then she groaned, pressing her fists against her temples, “Ugh! I messed up I messed up I messed up! I can’t believe I let them go without saying goodbye! I hate that I- I yelled at them and- and I didn’t even try letting Inky explain and what I she thinks I don’t love her anymore?!” Oh shite shite shite! Inky  _said_ some bullshite about friggin’ still being Sera’s best friend and loving her even if Sera didn’t love her back someday, that day Ellie decided not to tell Sera about her magic. Oh frick!  
          “Hey, babe—breathe, it’s gonna be okay-“  
          “She’s tiny! And scared and sad and probably thinks I hate her and I- I don’t know how to fix that! And all this shite is happening and she- shite! She doesn’t even have Russel!”  
          “Russel?” Aaron questioned over Leo’s loud,  
          “Oh my god she doesn’t have Russel!”  
          “I know!” Sera wailed, “Everything was crazy and Inky left him behind! I grabbed him, I wasn’t…I dunno I wasn’t really thinking, I was mad but I wanted to make sure she got him safe-“  
          “…please tell me Russel is an intimate object, what do you mean grabbed him?” Aaron wanted to know.  
          “Russel!” Sera snapped at him, like he should just get it—and he should! It was friggin Russel! Sera crawled a bit to her bag, pulled the little stuffed bear out for the boys to see.  
          “Oh crap, oh man, nu-uh,” Aaron shook his head, pulling his quiver and bow back on over his shoulder, “Nope. Little girl out there in the world without her stuffed bear, this is a Friend quest, big time.”  
          Frig, “Really?”  
          “Hell yeah—give him here. Thom’ll be at guard headquarters a few more hours still.”  
          “Can…can I come?” Sera wondered carefully. She- frick, she wanted to see  _someone_ , hug them, promise them she would do everything she could to figure this out, that she still loved them all, that she loved Inky—would die protecting her, no matter how confusing this all was.  
          That’s how Sera, crimson nail polish shiny and dry, ended up wearing Aaron’s scarf—didn’t have anything of her own that big, and he insisted if she was coming, she was keeping her head down and her identity as low-key as possible, wear something she could wear up around her head and shoulders, pull up over her mouth, keep her head down and make it to the big guard building she’d been to before with Thom when they was together and he needed to pick up his check—offices, Markham’s lock up.  
          Probably a good thing Sera was along for the ride because shift just changed and apparently the person Aaron had expected to be at the security desk was  _not_ a Friend, capital or otherwise. But she was a guard, knew Sera’s face when the Elf girl pulled down the scarf.  
          “Sera Rainier, what in the Maker’s name are you doing out this late?! This is no time for childish games, honey we’re in the middle of-“ the woman…Adrian Sera was pretty sure her name was, immediately chastised her on sight.  
          “I know!” Sera said, uhh… “I’ve been at school—finals are soon so I’ve been holed up studying, take one friggin break and the whole world is falling apart! People from school saw the um, fight earlier, Thom taking down some guy and they said he was hurt and I just- he’s my papi, I wanted to make sure he was okay.”  
          Adrian sighed. “Alright, your father’s here sweetheart—he’ll be alright, he’s resting right now, here,” she rose from her seat and handed Sera a key, eyeing Aaron a bit like she wasn’t so sure about him, “since you’re family, you can go on to the barracks, that’s where he’s the only one in right now, everyone’s out on patrol…you come straight to me whenever you’re done honey, I’ll make sure you have an escort to walk you and your friend back to campus.”  
          “Thanks,” Sera said, taking the key and turning to Aaron who stuck his tongue out a bit, jealous she got to go on ahead without him she supposed, but he handed off Russel and Sera held the bear tight as she went down the hallway Adrian pointed down and used the key on the door at the end of the hall.  
          Thom was resting kind of, laying in a cot, staring at the ceiling and frick he really was hurt!  
          “Papi!”  
          Thom shot straight up out of bed and swung out of the cot in a heartbeat, “Sera! What in the world-  honey you shouldn’t be out here!” he reprimanded.  
          That didn’t freaking matter, oh crap! She was crying again, and Thom raised a hand to brush away her tears, friggin- his nose was broken she was pretty sure, looked and sounded like it! and his face was all bruised and one of his arms was in a sling! Shite shite shite! “What happened?!”  
          “Everything’s fine—this is really only bruised,” Thom flapped the arm in a sling, made Sera giggle a bit, he looked like a friggin chicken, “I’m okay, and while you shouldn’t be out, I am glad to see you, sweetheart I’m so-“  
          “I’m sorry!” Sera cut him off, popping up on her toes a bit to wrap her arms around his neck and hug him tight! “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t’ve- I made Inky think I’d hate her if I knew she was a mage and she didn’t want you kicking me out so she said not to tell me—but I don’t hate her! I love her, and I love you and Maggie and Cyril and David and Samson and our whole family! We’re still family right, I- I’m not out?”  
          “Baby of course not- you’ve a right to be upset, even if you hated our guts you’d still be family-“  
          “Good! But I don’t! I love your guts, all of ‘em even-“ she pulled back, wriggled her fingers, ‘magic’ “ones. Please please please tell Ellie I love her and I’m sorry and I’ll see her as soon as I get done with finals—my last ones are on Tuesday,” they just freaking were! Martin was gonna switch her final around or she’d set Maggie loose on him! “And we’ll talk! Because this is freaky and scary and I ruddy hate magic but I love Inky so I’ll just- I’ll figure out how to get over it!”  
          Thom breathed a sigh of relief, “Button, honey it was dangerous to come all this way—we love you, you don’t have to worry about us taking your anger as the end of it all, we figured you’d come around when you were ready and talk it out, you’ve a right to be angry, it isn’t great, feeling fooled. I promise we were just trying to protect you.”  
          “I know. And I’m still pissed, kind of, but I…when I see Inky again we’ll talk,” Sera promised, holding out Russel to him, “She forgot him, I wanted to make sure she got him back—please, tell her what I said, alright? About loving her and pish.”  
          Thom let out a bit of a laugh. “Sera, honey,” he offered an albiet rueful grin, "I'll pass on your message, but it _might_ be best you hold on to Russel for now. Ellie..."  
          Frick.  
          "She freaking left him for me or something didn't she?" Sera supposed.  
          "To look after you, she said," Thom confirmed, shite! That made Sera feel better and worse—better ‘cause it meant Inky still gave a crap about her after Sera’d been so mean, but worse. ‘cause Inky still gave a crap about her after she’d been so mean! "I think she'll feel better knowing he's with you, and she'd love you returning him yourself. You...you're not as upset anymore? You want to join us on er, vacation?"  
          "Family vacation, I'd never miss it," Sera shrugged.  
          Thom grinned, and he hugged her again, pressing a kiss to her hair, shite! She'd come here to make sure he was alright and get stuff off her chest, make her feel better—the action made her feel safe but it also made her cry harder, ‘cause tonight had been full of so much ‘not safe’ and she didn’t know when it’d stop, and she was scared and-  
          “Everything’s going to be okay baby girl,” Thom promised, her, hand cradling the crown of her head as he kissed her on the forehead before tucking her head under his chin, “We’ll get through this.”  
          “You keep her safe, you hear? And yourself. And everyone. I don’t want no more bruises on you lot,” Sera intoned.  
          “We’ll certainly try, same goes for you sweet girl.”  
          Sera couldn’t help the little smirk that came to her face as she relished in just an eency bit of payback, got to return the words Thom always said when he went off to work.  
          “Always am.”

 

* * *

 

          Finals felt like they took for freaking ever to get going. Somehow the weekend between her and finals had felt even longer—all hell broke loose, it was freaking scary out there, students were advised not to leave campus and after Sera just about got trampled and…she was pretty sure almost kidnapped? Someone freaking grabbed her—if Aaron hadn’t still been hanging around, offered to walk her when she tried making it home to see Abuelo, she’d probably be who knows where now! Dude had to basically throw her over his shoulder and haul ass back to campus. It was a mad house, everyone panicking and freaking out. So yeah, after that noise, Sera hunkered down and just…basically lived in the library, studying, only came out to eat, sleep, and to go to the on-campus Chantry service. That…was rough. They gathered in one of the bigger lecture halls, seemed like just about everyone who went to or worked at the university was in attendance, Sera stuck close to Leo as they worked their way through the crowd.  
          Rosie was there, mostly to be with everyone for a bit before saying goodbye—she was definitely excused from finals. Cousin died helping fight against…it didn’t sound real, but something about the head Templar chick turning into a huge Lyrium monster. Aunt was dead too in the destruction and they weren’t sure about her Uncle, no one had seen or heard from him so they were gearing up and going to find him if they could, take him in if…if he was still…  
          So, she was pretty upset, cried real quiet the whole time, Leo holding her close while she hugged Sera, just a big comforting session, quietly singing and praying together.  
          “Hey Ser’, I think David’s here,” Leo said as they were leaving the service, exiting the building, shite it was cold out. Oh! David was just a little bit separated by the crowd but Sera could see the back of his head well enough, knew it was him, especially with Sammy walking at his side. She smiled her thanks to the guy and waved him and Rose off, they…could have the room to themselves for a bit if they needed it.  
          “David! Professor Farkus!” Sera called out as she pushed through the crowd, frig, she wasn’t sure if maybe he couldn’t hear her or didn’t realize it was her and not some random student or…oh shite maybe he was mad at her-  _“Abuelo!”  
_          That had the man whipping around and scanning the crowd, oh shit. He looked like hell, bags under his eyes, like he hadn’t shaved in days, eyes was red from crying, though he looked absolutely relieved, lit right up as he brushed past a few students and met Sera, regarding her a bit tentatively like he wanted to hug her but was afraid she wouldn’t want that,  _frick!  
_          Sera pulled him into the tightest hug! “I’m so sorry, I’m serious—about everything I said, I was so bitchy to you-“  
          He pulled back then, admonishing, “Young lady you keep that word out of your mouth if you’re using it to describe yourself,” he brushed her hair back a bit as he sighed, “You were angry my dear, of course you acted as such. We’ve all said things in anger that we don’t always mean.”  
          “Can we talk? I missed you and I…don’t think I should bother Rose and Leo for a little while.”  
          “Of course. Come, would you like to get something warm to drink?” David wondered, “Let’s go to the office shall we?”  
          Oh pish, yeah! They managed to break apart from the crowd and beelined for the Science department.  
          It felt like a relief, it’d been kind of killing her, she’d been bad enough to Inky but David had to deal with the brunt of her initial backlash.  
          She freaking said she was moving out and never coming back! That she wanted out of their family! To his face!  
          But they sat down in her and Leo’s office, brewed up a kettle of coffee, and talked. Checked up on each other—guy was having trouble sleeping, worried about everyone. Someone freaking tried to break into the house! Guards were spread thin, distracted, chaos was ensuing and people were definitely taking advantage of that. Made Sera scared for him…Angie too, and that seemed to remind him of something,  
          “I was going to leave this on your desk if you still weren’t on speaking terms,” he said, fishing a little envelope from his suit jacket pocket and sliding it across the desk to her, “Mister Johnson’s holding down the fort in his own shop but he sent Angela along with some trusted friends from school and their parents, going to a vacation home of theirs where they’re certain they’ll be safe from the chaos.”  
          Oh shite. That was…shite—it was good, she was relieved but it was depressing, sad that she hadn’t been around for Angela to say goodbye, that she was just gone. Sera’d been worried about her all weekend, wondering if she was safe. She was—said she would be, anyway, in her note. Explained where she was going, that she wasn’t sure how long she’d be gone but she’d miss Sera and try to get in contact with her as soon as possible, that she’d write to her in Hercinia.  
          “…thought Cyril’s family lived in Wycome?”  
          “They do, his sister at least,” Abuelo said, “and that is where we’re going. Anything anyone writes to us, anything of a sensitive matter, will go through Hercinia, be forwarded to another address in Kaiten, before making its way to Wycome.” He shrugged, “Just in case.”  
          Huh. That’s right, it was just Aunt Glenda that lived in Wycome with her husband or whatever, “What about papa’s parents? Where do they live? Er…they’re still around, right?” Sera wondered as she sipped at her coffee.  
          A sip she choked on when the man informed her breezily, “Oh yes certainly, they live right up the block—four doors up I believe? Oh sweetheart, be careful,” he cautioned sympathetically as he offered her a handkerchief so she could finish her coughing fit.  
          “They live- how come-“ Ellie always waved to everyone, there was this one couple in the neighborhood Sera noticed never waved back, just nodded or ignored her entirely but she just thought it was a normal level of rudeness not freaking- her actual family ignoring her. “Okay I’m sorry, why didn’t I know about them before?”  
          "I suppose it’s just never come up,” he shrugged. “Cyril doesn’t associate with them any longer, I’ve never even met them myself.”  
          Shite. “So he just…frick, his parents live up the block and he basically never sees them?”  
          “Never speaks to them, they’re certainly not welcome in our lives. They…have yet to turn Ellie in for apostacy but they did not take kindly to their son adopting a hiding apostate with no intention of turning her over to a Circle. We’ve a measure of leverage against them—Maggie does, anyway, blackmail of a sort to undermine any claims they make, or at the very least punish them if they ever did have the Templars sniffing around for her. That’s the primary reason we wanted her out so quickly—they may seek to report her. Glen loves Ellie to pieces, but she lives so far away, doesn’t come around to visit here much so she’s able to maintain a bit of subterfuge—in writing to her parents, she’s always agreed with them that Cyril’s a fool for marrying Thom, taking in Ellie. If they do make a move, if one of our sources here doesn’t catch wind of it first, her parents will likely rat themselves out, tell Glen all about it—perhaps even before they take such a step, giving us time to prepare or defend ourselves.”  
          Sera nodded. Then, “So you…you’ve never had any problem with Inky being a mage?”  
           He seemed to consider it a moment, “Well sweetheart, I hate to break it to you, but that smacks close to asking me if I’ve ever had a problem with you being Dalish. I love her, she can hardly help who she is, neither would I want that to change—we are all a culmination of everything we’ve ever been, what we’re born as, what we’ve experienced, it’s what makes us who we are. I wouldn’t change that girl for the world, just as I would never change you.”  
          “Well _me_ is…scared. Of magic. So…”  
          “I’m afraid of fire,” David shrugged. “But I was not born with an inherent, irremovable fear of flame. When I found my love of science, chemistry, I learned to move past my fear to fully embrace every aspect of its profession, including a great majority of our experiments. You can grow more confident with, and even overcome fear, it’s rather different from being made Tranquil to repress magic or surgically removing your ears to attempt to blend in with Human society—Ellie would still have her magic, still be a mage, just as you would still, at the very heart of things, be an Elf.”  
          Huh. Okay, yeah, “I wasn’t born scared of magic…I’m…I’m pretty sure at least,” Sera shrugged. “I mean- shite I don’t want to sound like a total b- uhhhhh witch- er…I don’t want to sound ignorant,” she finally settled on, “but how…I mean Inky gets nightmares and things, isn’t that demons trying to get in?”  
          “Of course not,” he assured. “Ellie would be forthright with us, if she dreamed in the Fade, and thus far she hasn’t save for one night, but it was before you came to live with us—she imbibed a small dose of Lyrium at the instruction of her tutor, to mark a milestone in her magic and test how she might handle the potion should she ever have need of it. She used that time to visit a Spirit of Faith she knows in the Fade, it was altogether pleasant and she woke unscathed. She has not Fade dreamed before or since, other than when her magic initially came to light.”  
          Shite, they let her have Lyrium? One time, but still! “How’re you lot so comfortable with her just running around with no one who can um…rein her in if she gets demon-possessed?”  
          “Should such a horrific thing happen, sweetheart, even you yourself could-“ David blanched, “It is crass, but I do believe we’re all capable of defending ourselves and each other from the eleven year old child should her mind be taken from us. If worse came to worse…you would always be safe, mija. But, we’ve the upmost confidence such a thing will never happen,” he rapped his knuckles against the wooden tabletop,  _just_ to be safe. “Ellie has been through much, many extreme circumstances where she…even I myself would  _want_ her to take a demon’s offer of help, she wouldn’t even accept that. Never. she’s resolute in her stance to never take a demon’s deal, no matter if it would be for something little that would cost her nothing, or something big that she felt confident wouldn’t land her possessed. She explains it rather eloquently but imagine…you found yourself in the laboratory, you’re in there to clean up after lab all by yourself, and you’ve a class of your own to get to. A demon would offer you something that yes, would certainly help you clean the lab, but it would be something like…with a toothbrush. It would take a considerably longer amount of time, by the time you’ve finished you’re late to your class…so you call the demon again, and sure enough, you’re magically transported to class. Of course he just sent  _you_  along, but your bag and textbooks, they’re in the office…”  
          “So I’m calling for demon-face to get me my pish,” Sera got it.  
          “Precisely. That, is how a demon works their way in. They build trust by gifting you fixes that need fixed themselves, and eventually, take what they want once you’ve accrued enough debt to them. Demons do not offer anything worth having, there would always be something wrong with it, and Ellie knows that, so she abstains in full. She would certainly die before she would ever accept a demon’s offer.”  
          Sera nodded. “So…they can’t—I mean like do they scare her any? Bother her? that has to be terrifying, is there anything we can do to keep them away?” Sera asked.  
          David considered it. “Occasionally, when she’s bled she might hear something, but she’s always up front about it with us,” he said. “Is there anything else you’d like to know sweetheart? Any way I can ease your worries?”  
          “…promise me you’re all done with school shite Tuesday and we can leave to meet up with Inky and them then? I’ll be all done with finals,” she swore.  
          David favored her a warm grin, patting her on the shoulder, “Certainly my dear.”  
          That was relieving. And somehow made time stretch itself all the more, the closer Tuesday afternoon was, the further it felt to Sera at least. She…she hated being in her and Rosie’s room all by herself, and she couldn’t go home, didn’t want to without Ellie and literally couldn’t—even abuelo was staying on campus, sleeping on a cot in his office with Samson because the city was a madhouse right now. People were just going crazy worrying about mages hiding among them, terrified the Circles were going to rebel, and they was right scared Qunaris was gonna attack the city! There was a freaking rumor going around that one already had, and a guardsman nearly died stopping him.  
          Which…turned out to be rumor and not-rumor.  
          Tuesday afternoon Sera and David were all packed and ready to go, Sammy leashed and eager for the big walk ahead. Sera met them at the University gate, smiling as she knelt to scratch the mabari behind the ears.  
          “Awe sweets, you’re real excited to go see Inky and them, aren’t you huh?” Sera asked him. “Me too—vacation’s gonna be a blast!” she offered up, bit loud.  
Because subterfuge! She did subterfuge now!  
          She was technically a freaking spy okay! Aaron said she could technically consider herself a Friend with a capital F! And that…was kind of exciting. If…if she was really doing this, going to be looking out for an Apostate little sister, the Friends sounded like just the sort of thing she’d need to be a part of! She was already down for their mission to prank the piss out of noble shites like Lady, she was already considering seeing about taking out a funny hit on the woman…little worried it’d turn out to be an actual hit hit though considering how old the bitch was…little worried, kind of hoped?  
          Anyway! She was a Friend! She already knew the names and faces of every Friend on campus, and Aaron agreed she might be useful—she was smart, could help pull off things like stinkbombs without a hitch, and then there was the fact that she did have an in with the local guard—if they ever needed a Friend prank thrown their way, Sera was a familiar face the guardsmen would let in without question, just like when she went to see Thom, ‘cause technically she was his kid. So! Friend! Capital F and it was capital Freaking cool! Aaron even let her keep his scarf and everything! Which was friggin’ sweet ‘cause it was cold as shite out! Cold sort of helped with cover though. She got nervous as they approached the city gate and had to display their identification, so she was shaking pretty bad, just- she was scared the guards would think something was fishy, but they let David and Sera pass just fine, wished them a pleasant and safe vacation, asked if they'd say hi to Thom and the others for them, only comment they made was the others were blessed, lucky that they left the city before Kirkwall went to hell in a hand basket, it was too bad Thom got caught up in the aftermath and they hoped he was healing up good.   
          Sera and David made their way out of Markham and headed straight to the now frozen river bank where they’d gone swimming for Sera’s birthday, it was pretty secluded and away from the main road, perfect for meeting up with-  
          “Papa! Papi!” Sera- cripes! She should be quieter, they was trying to be sneaky right? She didn’t freaking care though—Thom and Cyril! They was here! Thom looked even better now, bruising almost completely gone from his face, little bandage over his nose, arm no longer in a sling. Guy smiled real big when Sera ran to them, jumping a bit to hug them both around the necks, just pull them into one big squishy dad-hug! Little bit embarrassing when she realized yeah, duh, they said something about hiring security for their journey, there was other people with them, all wearing matching-ish brown armor, an Elf with a Dalish thingy on her face, a Dwarf…two dwarves? No a Dwarf and then a shortish Human man and then an average height darker skinned Human. And a-  
          And then she was clinging to them, little scream of surprise-mixed-fright tearing from her throat as she hid her face against Cyril’s neck because holy freaking shit!   
           _There was a great! Honking! Qunari!  
_She had two thoughts, almost simultaneously—she was glad Inky was far, far away from here, someplace safe from Qunaris…and holy shit why the hell isn’t Inky here thunderbolting this great big Qunari?!  
          “Sera, honey, hush girl—you’re fine,” Thom assured warmly, sounding almost amused as he raised his hand to the crown of her head, stroking her hair a bit to soothe like he was at least a little sympathetic under whatever he found so freaking hilarious. “This is the mercenary crew Maggie hires from time to time to help with some of the cases she takes on—when she needs something or someone hunted down, or a rival mercenary crew taken care of…”  
          “She calls the Bull's Chargers,” a big, rumbly…kind of familiar voice spoke, and Sera’d been clenching her eyes shut but she opened one to take a peek. Huge Qunari—massive. Muscular…loved Angie, but cripes he kind of made Sera wonder about Qunari women, frick. Angular face, whole body all scarred up, but he was still handsome looking, had a pair of pretty blue eyes in his head, nice enough smile on his face, and two great, ginormous horns on his head. “I'm The Iron Bull. Pleasure to meet you.”

 

* * *

 

          It took an embarrassing amount of time for Sera to get on the horse.  
          She had to ride a friggin’ horse!  
          She’d never done it before, like, ever. She only ever rode along in a carriage before, never just a straight up horse! But papa…frick, was she a papa’s girl? How did that work exactly when you had two dads? She’d been real scared, to a point she honest to the Maker was just gonna walk the whole way like she sort of thought they was going to, but Cryil promised he’d ride with her the whole way, be right there holding onto her the whole time and she’d be safe. So.  
          She got on the horse and as far as Inky or Angie would be concerned, Sera jumped on all by herself, first thing, zero hesitation, like a badass.  
          Like freaking David! He just swung into the saddle like a pro!  
          And Sammy was living the highlife, he trotted alongside them as they rode, got to get his energy out, and then take nice long nap in the Iron Bull’s lap—pup was way comfortable with the guy which was assuring. Frick, there was a lot of scary to all this. That…kind of helped Sera get over it—being so scared as she rode along, because Inky’d already done all this and she had to be so much more scared, all things considered. Shite, she was just tiny—she didn’t ride on a huge ass horse all by herself, had she? Wait-  
          “Maggie’s with Inky, right?” she worried.  
          Cyril’s arms around her hugging a bit more tight as he said, “Yeah, they’re safe and sound with Glenny and Uncle Jake—we’ll be there as soon as possible-“  
          Sera took in a gasping breath, “Oh shite! We’ll be there in time for her birthday right?!”  
          “Hell yeah!” Bull assured, sounding excited. “Wouldn’t miss Imekari’s birthday!”  
          “Oh,” Dalish lady sighed real happy, “This is hardly the ideal circumstance, but I’m so excited we’ll be around to celebrate in person this year!”  
          “Loves that blanket you made her last year,” Cyril said. Oh frig, Ellie had this blanket that…that was always real toasty, pleasantly warm like you was bundled up in front of the fireplace no matter where you were in the house, friggin! Was it magic somehow? This Dalish chick had a staff strapped to her—insisted she wasn’t a mage but an ‘archer’. Blanket had to be ruddy enchanted! Which was kind of freaky but…kind of cool. Made Sera feel a lot better, it was cold as shite out here, she was warm riding with Cyril, but Inky got sick real fast if she got too cold and stayed cold—Maggie’d packed it when they left so Sera really hoped Ellie spent her trip bundled up real good. “You see her with it on the trip up?” Cyril was asking, oh! Cool!  
          The woman’s hand went to her chest like she was trying to physically keep her heart inside, “Sweet thing, she thanked me for it again,” she looked to Sera then, “And my word she had so much to say about you, da’len, I’m so happy to meet you!”  
          “Inky talked about me?” Sera asked nervously. She usually talks her up but…Sera hadn’t exactly been the nicest when they went their separate ways.  
          “Wouldn’t shut up about you,” Bull chuckled.  
          “…anything good?”  
          “The words ‘bestest big sister’, ‘pretty', 'smart', and 'coolest student at Markham University’ got thrown around, it was a real slander fest—pretty sure Maggie’d help you sue,” Bull supposed jovially. Then, “Oh shit, what I say?”  
          “Oh sweetheart—no one’s mad at you honey, especially not Ellie,” Thom assured, reaching out from where he rode alongside them to rest a hand on Sera’s arm while she used her other hand to hastily wipe at her eyes, shite, she wasn’t crying, just…little bit teary. Inky still said nice things about her?  
          “I’m really sorry I didn’t say goodbye to you guys, that I yelled at Inky and uhhh, said mean pish,” oh shite she was glad Ellie’d been gone when Sera called her- called her a freak! Blah! That always killed her when Lady called her that, and yeah that’d been what Sera’d been goin for at the time…didn’t make her feel any better about it.  
          They traveled mostly along main roads, open as it was, it was safest for the most part. Sera’s stomach friggin did somersaults the few times Templars passed their way, seemed like the Chargers were good about keeping Dalish out of focus—which turned out to be her actual name or, er, nickname, what everyone called her. Bull always addressed anyone that passed, between him and Thom, they handled all the talking and they made it through without much scrutiny—it was just a bunch of non-magical people, trying to live their normal lives and not letting the world ending affect their vacation plans outside the realm of hiring a bunch of muscle to get them there safe.  
          Sera also…hadn’t ever slept outside before, not since she was tiny. So it was kind of an experience, little bit fun to camp out when they stopped for the evening. Sera curled up next to Thom when they had a fire set up, dinner underway. She was friggin sore head to toe—it wasn’t  _bad_  just,  _ouch_ , horseback riding was rough. Shite, she was afraid for David and Maggie, that travel like this had to have been really hard on the older woman, currently being hard on Abuelo—he didn’t complain or seem like he was in a great deal of pain but he was definitely stiff when he took a seat around the campfire.  
          Chargers was pretty cool. Apparently Maggie knew them through Farkus. One of his students was from the Imperium, sopporati and he'd gotten into serious debt for his schooling. He'd worked two, sometimes three jobs at once to pay off his loans but it hadn't been enough, and if he'd returned to Tevinter as planned, he would have been er, enslaved. Point of fact, Imperium slavers came to collect him at graduation...except David stepped in, his student had been terrified that something like that might happen, and went to him. So, David reached out ahead of time and found a mercenary crew to escort him on the down low, get him out. And who better to piss off some Tevinter bastards than a huge Qunari? Bull'd been down for helping the kid stay out of slavery, helped him relocate to Antiva, which had a pretty...lax extradition system, they weren't real big on going through all the trouble of hunting people down and arresting them for crimes committed other places, nor were they big on letting other places come make trouble on Antivan soil, the Crows* didn't take kindly to it. So, the guy was working as a Chemist in Antiva City, safe and sound. A few months later when Maggie needed help with securing protection for a client getting out of an abusive marriage, David passed on Bull's name, and she had a ginrormous Qunari scare the piss out of this husband-beating arsehole bloke. Started giving the Chargers regular jobs after that.  
         There weren't many of them, but they were a good team. Dark skinned Human bloke was sweet—Stitches, he was their healer and he checked in on everyone, gave Sera a few pointers about stretching that might help with getting used to riding, and she got a few drops of Elf Root Tonic in the apple cider they had around for the sober, minor members of their group, and the bloke gave Abuelo something for his aches. Dalish was alright for er…super Dalishy Dalish. Grim guy was nice, Inky’d taught Sera a little bit of sign*, so she was able to have a little bit of polite back and forth with the quiet man. Turned out the little Antivan helped him get it through to his boss and crew that he was just nonverbal, helped him teach the rest of the Chargers enough sign to communicate with him. And then there was Rocky, Dwarf dude who was super into explosions which…was a little awkward when he mentioned as much, current world issues considered.  
         It was actually fun, felt like a real adventure to be out under the stars, with an actual Mercenary crew, traveling and fighting, with an end goal in mind. Er, Sera didn’t do much fighting, but…Aaron had let her have at his bow one day when they was taking a break studying for finals. He’d been offering her a few pointers, but she got the gist, mostly—it did help having him show her how to hold the bow and the arrow, be able to pull back and release the things without friggin chopping off a thumb or something, but other than that? it felt really cool, like something she was supposed to do, and when it got down to it, it was basically just…math in motion. She’d watched Aaron take a few practice shots on some targets and figured out what all needed to be accounted for, height and distance, tension, velocity, wind speeds and direction. The dad-squad wasn’t super keen on Sera having weaponry—not that they didn’t want her capable of defending herself, that was so not the case, they were just worried about handing off something dangerous she might have zero clue how to use and just end up seriously hurting herself with. That Dalish chick did have a bow and arrows ‘n pish that she kept around, stayed in practice—she came up hunting and stuff, occasionally had to do so while on the road with the Chargers. Sera wasn’t real big on shooting animals, that just made her feel a little bit sick, but she didn’t have a problem taking practice shots at non-furry friend targets.  
          Which worked its way up from hitting a handkerchief Abeulo tacked onto the side of the tree, to shooting at whatever target the Chargers called out for her to try as they rode along—as far as the Iron Bull ruddy calling for her to make a shot between his freaking horns!  
          And she freaking did it!  
          “W-oah!” David cheered over Bull’s laughter, the Qunari threw back his head and laughed real hard, Sera thought he might fall out of the saddle!  
          “Holy shit, I didn’t actually think you’d do it,” Bull said as he calmed, “not gonna lie, pretty sure I peed my pants a little.”  
          Sera snorted, “Sorry—you’re the one who said to do it!”  
          “Great shot Sera-love!” Thom encouraged.  
          “Is she done?” Cyril wondered, “Can I open my eyes?”  
          “Keep your eyes on the road you crazy!” Sera squeaked, “Friggin’ you’re the one keeping us in the saddle!”  
          “I love you, I’m proud of you, but baby I can’t stomach watching you risk putting your eye out.” Well frick, he didn’t have to worry about that, her arm was pretty tired anyway so she let the bow sit lax in her lap.  
          “I think I was the one more at risk of getting an eye put out,” The Iron Bull snorted.  
          “You know, you might look cool with an eyepatch,” Sera shrugged.  
          “Hell yeah I would—I’d freaking kill in an eyepatch.”  
          “I could amputate your bum ankle and set you up with a peg-leg, get you a parrot,” that Stitches guy chortled, and Dalish gasped,  
          “Oh!” she enthused, “We could become a pirate crew!”  
          “I’d literally be abandoning ship then,” Rocky assured, “no fucking way you assholes are making me live topside  _and_  on the ocean. I get seasick.”  
          “When the hell have you ever been seasick?” The Iron Bull wanted to know.  
          “Never, but I’m a Dwarf, it’s genetic, 100% guaranteed—now stop being racist, not all Pirates have eyepatches and peg-legs.”  
          “Uh  _duh_ , only Pirate captains do—Bull’s your captain,” Sera pointed out.  
          “Shit,” Rocky swore, “she’s right. This is how you got into college so early, isn’t it?”  
          “Yup,” Sera said, “Lucky me my entire Uni interview was on my knowledge of Pirate captains or I’d’ve been waitlisted.”  
          “Lucky you?” Cyril asked, “Lucky us! If you hadn’t gotten into Markham, well I don’t know what we’d’ve done,” he said, squeezing her a bit more tightly, pressing a kiss to the back of her head.  
          Sera felt a little badly then. They’d…they would be with Ellie right now, all of them. They could have all just up and left Markham, not had to stay with or go back for Sera. They wouldn’t have to worry…dads seemed tired as they traveled, ‘cause they was staying up real late to talk as quiet as they could, a few tents over from the one Sera slept in with Dalish. Sera couldn’t hear it crystal clear, but she heard enough to know they were talking about her—worrying that she might not feel safe living with them anymore, or if she’d never fully trust them again, and what if she couldn’t get to a place she was comfortable with Ellie? She was a little scared, but that was pretty amazing considering she’d always been a lot scared of magic. And she wasn’t nearly as upset about the whole lying thing anymore, not after really thinking about it. It was sort of like…she lied to Lady for months, by omission, never told her she was into girls, that she was kind of seeing Mack or trying to at least. Cause she knew she’d get the snot beat out of her, maybe even kicked out and left to fend for herself when she didn’t have the first clue of how to take care of herself. That made her feel a bit sick to her stomach though, that she made Ellie afraid like that—she didn’t think Inky believed Sera’d ever beat on her or something, but she was likely scared that the Elf girl would hate her, maybe turn her over to the Templars and not care what they did to her.  
          “I’m…I’m the lucky one,” Sera said, “Really. I dunno where I’d be if you lot hadn’t come along, if…if Inky hadn’t gotten you to help me get away from Lady. I um…get, why you didn’t tell me about everything,” magic, and everyone around seemed cool with apostates, but she wasn’t sure if anyone in this lot knew about Inky, so, better safe than sorry.  
          “We’re so sorry sweetheart,” Thom said, “really—I had words with Ellie about being more honest in-future, she shouldn’t have led us to believe she didn’t want to tell you because of your opinions on the subject. I can’t say I have any regrets that we’re as close as we are, but we all need to be on the same page, moving forward.”  
          “You didn’t yell at her or nothing, did you?”  
          “We just had a serious talk about it is all, had her promise to do better,” Thom assured Cause she was just- she was just trying to make sure I didn’t alienate you or whatever, you lot probably would’ve been pissed, thrown me out of my ear for making Ellie so upset. I probably would’ve deserved it I- frick, I had her talking about how she knows er, that people like her is scary! If I’d known she was talking bad about herself I- well I don’t friggin like it, and I feel bad.” Frick, that wasn’t very covery, was it? “Antivans—scariest nationality!” Fixed it!  
          The Iron Bull let out this little rumbly growl, “Yeah they are,” he said, like that was something he er…appreciated about them. Yick.  
          “Don’t beat yourself up—you didn’t know. All said and done, you’ve been handling it a lot better than most.”  
          Didn’t friggin’ sound like it. Leo’d sounded chill with the whole thing, Thom and Cyril had apparently been down with it from the beginning. David and Maggie too. Even the Iron Bull—the Chargers all knew, they assured Sera when they stopped again for the evening, gathered around their camp fire swappin’ stories. He was a freaking Qunari! They did shite to mages that made Sera want to vomit even before she knew Ellie was one! Oh Maker, if anything ever happened-  
          She’d been having nightmares about that. Alternated between people finding out about Ellie’s magic because of Sera, and them hurting her or- or worse, or Templars taking her away, and…and Sera getting to Ellie and the girl refusing to see or speak to her, just screaming and crying that Sera hurt her feelings and she never wants to see her again, doesn’t want- doesn’t want to be her sister anymore.  
          Dalish wasn’t in the tent when Sera shot awake in the middle of the night, crying, heart thumping out of her chest as she tried to breathe and figure out of she- if she was still on the road or what, they wasn’t in town yet, right? Nope. Still on the road. Sera was just getting her bearings still when there was movement outside the tent, and the next thing she knew, Thom and Cyril were climbing in and it was embarrassing but…comforting. Curling up with her dads, letting them comfort her, they let her cry it out, promised her everything was going to be okay.  
          All the promises in the world was nothing close to what it was like for everything to actually be okay.  
          They made their way to into Wycome Thursday morning, afternoonish, they could’ve stopped for lunch but Sera could barely stomach breakfast she was so nervous-excited. She wanted to hug Maggie something fierce, apologize, give…give back what she’d saved up for her, shite, that still made her feel squirmy, uncomfortable but loved.  _We don’t make Ellie pay to live with her family.  
_          She wanted to hug Ellie.  
          Wycome was a smallish town, smaller than Markham definitely, but not uncomfortably tiny, you could still go unnoticed through the crowd. Or, at least you could if you wasn’t traveling with a Qunari, but the Iron Bull seemed to be a recognizable face, no one panicked about his presence, even a few people waved and smiled, or uh…there was a few giggly women that recognized him, got all flirty as their group passed, a few men too, shite. Seemed like him and his crew did good work, helped a lot of people.  
          Another thing about traveling with a Qunari, he could see real well over crowds, be seen real well. Which was the perfect formula for,  
          “Yes! There’s my favorite imekari!” the Iron Bull rumbled out loud as they came onto the street Cyril’s sister lived on Sera supposed because,  
          “The Iron Bull!” Inky! Her voice! Real excited, Sera could hear her little boot steps pounding up the street, and then the Qunari was crouching, and woosh! Inky was up in his arms, hugging him around the neck tight. “You’re back!” and then her breath caught in her throat, eyes wide as she stared down at Sera over the Iron Bull’s shoulder.  
          “Hi Ink,” Sera breathed, real careful, offering up a little smile she hoped was reassuring.  
          “…hi,” Ellie whispered back, chin quivering a bit and Bull seemed to realize he was about to have a crying mess in his arms and the best way to comfort her was to whip around, and Sera had about a split second to put her arms up so the Qunari could deposit the girl into them and then Inky was crying and squeezing and Sera was crying and squeezing back and holding her sister tight tight tight as she went to her knees.  
          “I’m sorry!”  
          Frick! Both of them said it, sort of wailed it really, in unison.  
          “No Inky, I’m sorry I made you scared to tell me, and I’m sorry I didn’t say goodbye, for being mean and- and I love you and everything’s going to be okay!”  
          “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I th-thought m-m-maybe you’d never ever ever have to know! I- I d-didn’t want to scare you!”  
          “I’m not scared of you Inky, I promise,” Sera swore, pulling back a bit and taking the girl’s face in her hands to wipe at her eyes, cripes! It was cold as shite but her and Ellie was bundled, looked sort of like she’d been making play in the snow, but she was all teary and snotty and lung-rattley so, “We’ll talk later, and figure everything out. Okay?”  
          Inky sniffled, nodding, “Uh-huh, kay,” she agreed, and then, “Abuelo!”  
          Professor knelt to be level with them, “Hello, mija!” he greeted, wrapping them both up in a hug since they was so close together. “My beautiful girls, let’s get you inside, yes? It’s simply freezing out here.”  
          “In a second! Papa, papi! Sammy! You’re back! Come give me hugs and lets go inside!”  
          Ink got a big puppy kiss to the cheek from Samson, and Thom and Cyril hugged the little Antivan before Thom took her up onto his hip, “Alright baby, lets go. Where’s your Abuelita and auntie?”  
          “Tia Glenda is helping my Maggie make lunch!” Ellie informed them.  
          “You wasn’t playing outside all by yourself were you?” Sera worried. Seemed like a safe neighborhood but it made Sera’s stomach drop that Ellie’d been here all on her lonesome.  
          She shook her head, smiling real big, “Noooo,” Ellie let out laughingly, “Mi Tio Jakey was helping me make snow angels!”  
          Oh. There was a bloke, out front of the house at the end of the street, a stocky dark skinned man, hair twisted into locks that fell clean to his shoulders, wavin’ as they approached, he smiled real big and greeted, “Hey! You must be Sera, I’m Jake, great to finally meet you,” he offered his hand for Sera to shake.  
          “Thanks, it’s great to meet you too,” Sera said, smiling as she shook his hand.  
          Auntie Glenda was more of a hugger.  
          “Oh my god, is that Sera?! Oh honey, you’re gorgeous, finally another blonde in the family, and I just adore your little suit!” the woman gushed as she rushed out of the house, swooping Sera up into a big squeezy hug—like up, up! Woman was tall!  
          Woman was taller than her husband by almost a foot, hair like mad though, blonde and wavy all the way down to her hips. Features seemed a little softer than Cyril’s but um, she basically could’ve been Cyril in a wig-  
          Not a wig, it was all her own hair, she did herself up a lot prettier than Cyril but they looked so alike ‘cause they was identical twins. Took Sera a second to figure out how that worked, she supposed Auntie Glenda was one of the people Inky met like Leo that helped her magic know things like that.  
          “Come in, come in—Jake honey, get some more firewood, would you? This baby’s got the sniffles, huh?” Glenda sympathized, brushing Sera’s hair back as she wrapped an arm around her shoulders and led her into the house. Huh? Oh, yeah, her head was a little stuffy, throat felt scratchy. “We’ll get you something warm to drink—are you hungry sug’?”  
          “Yes miss,” Sera said.  
          “Oh honey, you can call me Auntie or Tia, whichever suits,” the Human woman insisted cheerily.  
          “Sera!” Maggie dropped the salad bowl she’d been setting on the table, let it clatter on the tabletop as she rushed to meet the Elf girl, “Oh sweetheart I’m so happy you still decided to come—you were safe, weren’t you?” she worried, hands on Sera’s shoulders as she looked her over.  
          “’m fine, Abuelita,” Sera assured.  
          Maggie breathed a sigh of relief, “Good, oh honey, I’m so sorry-“       
          “I’m sorry,” Sera cut her off, “really, I shouldn’t’ve let you leave without saying goodbye.”  
          “Think nothing of it sweet girl,” Maggie dismissed her worry. “Oh, I’m just so glad you’re all safe, where is my hus-“  
          She’d stepped back from Sera as she prepared to voice the question and that was all the invitation Professor needed to friggin’  _move_ , like, faster than Sera thought the guy could, he was there, holding Maggie and uh…well. Cripes. The Qunari had to duck to get into the house but once he did he got an eyeful of old people kissin’ and let out an encouraging whistle of approval.  
          Once they was done trying to eat each others faces, they all sat down to lunch. House was warm, nice—kind of cluttered but in a homey way…artsy way too. Maggie had a few paintings around the house, the office, and now Sera knew who the little squiggly signature _,  J. Audrey_ , belonged to. Jake was a painter and Glenda was a schoolteacher, so she was on break this time of year. There was a mix of Jake's work and little art projects from students hung up on the walls, a few sheets of parchment hanging over their fireplace was Inky’s, cute. And a few of the easels around had nearly finished paintings on them, looked like he’d let Ellie try her and at them—literally, apparently he had Inky dip her hands in paint and press them to the canvas, and then he came in behind with a brush to stroke through the handprints and turn them into tulips, add stems and leaves. Cute, and realistic, but you could still  _just_  see Ellie’s handprint underneath if you looked close, it was kind of sweet.  
          “It’s real pretty,” Sera complimented, “Cute you let Inky get inky.”  
          “Tio lets me help him paint!” Ellie chirped.  
          “If you’d like, you could help us later,” Jake invited.  
          “Yeah!” Ellie insisted, “It’s so much fun!”  
          “Sure sweets,” Sera supposed.  
          “Maybe after a nap though Imekari,” Bull said, “your lungs are singing the ‘time to cuddle the Iron Bull’ song.”  
          Ellie let out a happy gasp at that, “That’s my favorite song!”  
          Wasn’t Sera’s, shite. But it was nice of the Qunari. Apparently their lot ran warmer than most, toasty, so Ellie got her jammies on and laid out on the Iron Bull’s chest as he stretched out on the couch, girl was the size of his freaking bicep! But he was real careful with her, held her and hummed, this rumbly sound in his chest.  
          It was definitely the tune to ‘Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall’, but still, sweet.  
          “She’s okay, right?” Sera worried quietly to the adults as they settled around the kitchen table after clearing away lunch, Tia Glenda pouring coffee for everyone.  
          “The way I hear it,” Maggie said, tucking Sera’s hair back behind her ears, “both of our sweet girls haven’t been eating or sleeping the way they should,” oh, that wasn’t good. Sera definitely didn’t want her getting sick over all this.  
          “Did you get a chance to check on her arm?” Glenda asked Cyril. Huh?  
          “Yeah, thanks Glenny—I appreciate you and Maggie keeping an eye on it, cleaning it good, it’s just about all healed up.”  
          “Inky got hurt?” Sera asked. They hadn’t run into much trouble, the route they took, there’d been like something like a fight one morning, some thugs trying to ambush their camp first thing, but the Iron Bull pretty much had them running for the hills single handedly.  
          Thom grimaced, “Had a run in with some bandits in the area on the way up the first time around—they had mabari and one of them took a good chunk out of Ellie. Needed stitches in her arm,” he sighed, patting his bicep to show where it was on Ellie, cripes friggin’ stitches?!  
          “Glad I have the know-how to help, but Maker,” Cyril breathed out a weary sigh.  
          “Sorry, Bull was bleeding out or I’d have stepped in for you,” Stitches said, “I can take them out for you if she’s ready?”  
          Cyril nodded, “Thanks, yeah I think a little Elf Root balm will clear it right up.”  
          “Inky needed stitches?!” Sera squeaked.  
          “She’s fine honey,” Thom assured.  
          “Demons didn’t try to scare or anything did they?” Sera worried.  
          “She wasn’t at risk of possession sweetheart,” Cyril promised.  
          “So they didn’t come at all, offer her anything?”  
          “It’s nothing you need to worry about my dear,” Maggie assured, though she seemed a little uncomfortable. Not like she was lying, but kind of?  
          Inky sounded better when she woke up later, Sera realized she’d been kind of pale earlier, her color was back good, though she blanched a bit when Papa took another look at her arm and said it was probably a good time to remove her stitches—courtesy of Mister Stitches. But she put on a brave face, chin quivering just a little as she nodded determinedly.  
          “Gracias Mister Stitches,” she said as Cyril helped her sit on the kitchen table.  
          Oh frig! Sera forgot all about-  
          “Here Inky, sweets, I’m sorry,” Sera said as she dug around in her satchel, got Russel out freaking finally, “Russel’s here, I brought him back for you and um, I’m here too,” Sera promised, taking Ellie’s left hand in her own once the girl had a good hold on Russel in her arm. “Sucks you gotta get stitches out, but it’s gonna be okay. I mean Stitches name  _is_  Stitches so, he’s the best in the business!” oh. “No offence papa,” she assured Cyril.  
          Guy was sitting on one of the living room couches with Thom, his face half buried in his husband’s shoulder like he was trying not to watch as Stitches rolled up Ellie’s sleeve, “None taken,” he assured. Even Bull was kind of sitting with his elbows propped up on his knees, head in his hands, palms over his eyes.  
          Sera didn’t look much either, she just held Inky’s hand, used her free hand to pull Ellie’s head against her neck and massage at her scalp the way she liked to have it scratched when Sera helped wash it, trying to comfort the girl as she quietly cried, shit shit shit, stitches was no fun.  
          “Alright honey, you’re doing great—way better than Bull when he needs stitched up—you’re such a big girl,” Stitches complimented as he worked, “we’re almost done.”  
          “I’m okay,” Ellie said quietly, poor thing was shaking a little, Maker, Sera was relieved when Stitches finally announced,  
          “We’re all done!”  
          “You okay Inky?” Sera asked, pouting a bit as she examined the girl’s healing right arm, it did look almost as good as new, just the faintest bit of a mark left over. “Do you need anything?”  
          “No,” she sniffled, “thanks for holding my hand, sissy.”  
          “Of course sweets.”  
          “You…you weren’t scared of me?” Ellie wondered shyly.  
          Oh shite. Had she been a little worried? Yeah, her arm had been a little bleedy before Stitches topped his treatment off with Elf Root balm, but, “I trust you Inky. Our papis and abuelo filled me in on your um, attitude about demon deals, I believe it when you say you wouldn’t accept one.”  
          “Never ever! Jerks! Dalish, those meanies weren’t still hanging around on your trip back, were they?”  
          “No da’vehnan, you did an er,” Dalish searched for the word, “adequate job of dressing them down, I couldn’t sense much demon activity in the area as we traveled back. They’ll certainly think twice before trying such a tactic with you again.”  
          “What did they offer you?” Sera asked. Inky’s mouth stayed shut, so Sera said, “I thought we was being more honest from now on?”  
          “I just don’t wanna scare you—there’s nothing to be scared of,” Ellie promised. “They just…demons see what’s bothering us, wants we could have, in order to work their way into our lives. I um…when I got hurt, I was really worried that you’d never speak to me again, that you’d hate me and wouldn’t want to be my big sister anymore, so when I got hurt and demons tried talking to me, um…some of them offered to make you like me again, and others tried to convince me I didn’t like you anymore either and should let them er…hurt you for ‘rejecting’ me.”  
          Maggie sighed, nodding, “One moment we were trying to get to Ellie to help her, stop her bleeding, and the next she’s flailing around so much we couldn’t keep pressure on her arm, screaming at the sky about you—I thought she was possessed for all of a second before I realized she was just getting lippy with demons in the Fade.”  
          “Screaming about me?” Oh wait…oh frig, Sera started smiling a bit, she wondered… “Inky, was that why you was on about how I’m the ‘best’ sister 'n stuff?”  
          “Si!” Ellie nodded eagerly, “I told those dummies I’d never let anyone hurt you! Even if you hated my guts! And if you did hate me, that’s your choice—I'd never let demons make you like me just because you not liking me made me sad.”  
          “Inky I was…I was pissed you hadn’t told me, but I didn’t hate you,” not really anyway, “I didn’t stop loving you just ‘cause I was hurt. And um…I mean I was mad, but I get it, why you didn’t tell me. You knew I would be afraid, that I might react badly and…and if papis and abuelos knew I couldn’t accept you being a mage…couldn’t accept you being you, would be a risk to you getting turned in or something…well I wouldn’t be able to call them papis and abuelo, you lot would just be ‘the Rainiers’ to me, I’d have probably been booted the moment I had my first paycheck under my belt.”  
          “Umm, you girls want a minute?” the Iron Bull wondered, all the adults were sort of looking to one another like they weren’t sure if they should give Sera and Ellie privacy to talk things out, or if some of them needed to stay to be involved or something.  
          “If you feel safe talking to me by yourself,” Inky said, “we can go to my room.”  
          Yeah, it’d probably be less awkward, Sera nodded. “Of course Ink, lead the way.”  
          So Ellie led her to one of the rooms off the living room—little bit bigger than their room at home, it was pretty, kind of decorated like Glenda and Jake made it up with Ellie in mind, for when she visited or whatever. Mister Pinkie was on the bed, and Ellie plopped Russel down next to him before climbing in and patting the space next to her for Sera to sit if she wanted. Oh frick, Sera smiled a bit as she laid back holy crap—threeish days of travel and she missed having a mattress!  
          “This is great,” Sera sighed contentedly.  
          Inky nodded, kind of shy. “Um…there aren’t a lot of guest rooms, so you can stay in here no matter what, if…if you’re scared about sleeping in the same room as me, I can sleep somewhere else.”  
          Shite, Sera rolled over a bit to prop herself up on her elbow, use her other hand to take Inky’s, “Well that’d be dumb—‘cause then this room would be empty! I’m bunking with you tonight—Rosie left school early so I had our dorm room all to myself, thought I was going to go barmy—and I missed you.”  
          Ellie smiled at that, squeezing Sera’s hand a bit, “I missed you too.”  
          “So…you’re a mage.”  
          “Uh-huh.”  
          “How’d that happen? I mean um…obviously it’s sort of an ‘at birth’ thing, you don’t really  _become_ a mage—how long have you known?” Sera asked.  
          “Since I was five,” Ellie said.  
          Cripes. “That’s really little. Did it…did it hurt, your magic waking up? Leo um-“ crap! She hadn’t meant to tattle on the dude, he hadn’t said anything really, “he wouldn’t tell me much but he kind of…it sounded like you got hurt really bad.”  
          “I…I was little, I mean I didn’t even understand what magic was, I knew ‘mages’ were bad, but I didn’t really know what ‘mages’ meant, never mind 'apostacy’,” sort of stumbled over the word even now, ‘a-pops-tacy’, “I lived in an orphanage, in southern Antiva. I had a really scary dream and I went to mi tia—a caretaker that…I dunno, she was the closest thing I had to a mami I guess?—she always knew what to do when I was sick or hurt or scared. Usually if I had a nightmare she’d hold me and sing or tell me a story and make sure I fell asleep feeling safe but…well this time, she just sort of dropped me when she got the idea I’d dreamed in the Fade I guess. Antiva only has one Circle and we didn’t live anywhere near it, and I was really young to be showing up magical, so the caretakers just sort of panicked,” she shrugged. “They were scared—I was so young, it’d probably be easy for demons to take over…some of them thought I must just um…be evil, meant to be possessed or something. They wanted to keep the other kids safe from me, weren’t sure if they could risk waiting for Templars to get there from Antiva city. They kicked me out. and I was confused, scared, I didn’t know what was happening, or what I did wrong, and when I begged- um, I ended up hurt, left in the street away from the orphanage, somewhere I wasn’t familiar with. They’d kept me locked away in the time out room for a long time, a day or two, no one in or out…I was hungry and tired and bleeding pretty badly. I ended up unconscious, directly back in the Fade. All I knew was I was back in the scary place I dreamed about, and there were all these horrible things, voices, telling me they could help in different ways—heal me, ‘avenge’ me, things like that.”  
          The air sort of whooshed out of Sera’s lungs. “Inky if…if you had to accept a demon deal to save your life, I get it-“  
          Inky’s eyes went real wide at that, “Oh gosh, no! No no no—I didn’t!” she promised. “At least I’m pretty sure? I didn’t understand anything—no one sat me down and explained I was a Mage or had magic, or that I’d even been Fade dreaming. Everyone was just suddenly scared of me, wanted to hurt me, wanted me gone. I thought I must have done something horrible, I was  _so sorry._ I was pretty sure I was dying, being punished for something, so I started praying for the Maker to forgive me for whatever I’d done, for His help and…then there was this woman, in the Fade. She looked kind of like an Elf she…she seemed nice. She made everyone else go away, and...I couldn't understand what she was saying, but she made me feel safe. And I woke up, I was in the street where I’d passed out, but I was fine. I wasn’t hungry or thirsty or hurt anymore. Demon deals always go wrong somehow, nothing went wrong with that, it was just…like something kind for kindness sake, and I didn’t ‘accept’ anything or even say anything to the woman it just happened, no strings attached so…I don’t know what she was, but I don’t think she was a demon.” Sera nodded she...kind of wasn't sure she'd be able to say anything without blubbering or something, shite. “I was on my own after that. I had a little help here and there, I met some people like me, apostates who would try to help but there was only so much they could do without getting caught themselves. And there were good people, non-magical, who saw a little girl on her own and wanted to help but…eventually they’d find out, and that usually ended badly for me. Until I met papi and everyone.”  
          “Including me,” Sera swore, squeezing the girls hands, “Ellie, I promise—I love you, and I’m always going to protect you.”  
          “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. Do you think you can forgive me?” Ellie asked.  
          Sera wrapped her arms around the girl’s shoulders, “Nothing to forgive Inky! You forgive me, right? I really am sorry.”  
          Frig! Face smushing cheek kiss! “Of course I do!”

 

* * *

 

          So. Magic…might not be so scary after all.  
          Jake let Sera and Ellie help with his painting some more—had them and Glenda dip their fingers in different shades of purple, going darker to lighter shades on biggest to littlest hands, Glenda made clumps of dots that Sera dotted on top of, topping them off with Inky’s little fingerprints. Altogether, it looked like sprigs of lavender Jake finished off with stems, and they helped him paint a field of them on the landscape he’d already painted, pretty sunset, it was nice, something a local restaurant commissioned for their walls. Paint could get runny, even when it was thick it would shift just a bit, and Jake wanted it set just right, so Inky cast icy cold from her hands and boom! The paint stayed put till it was completely dry!  
          Glenda and Jake’s house was nice, but Wycome wasn’t quite up to speed plumbing wise, but the tub had a hand pump to fill it with water from the local well, and that was kind of fun, felt like a game, her and Inky working together, kind of working up a sweat, but hey! They was gonna take a bath anyway! And then…yeah, magic! Water was freezing when they first got in, but a few seconds of Inky’s hands in the water glowing orangey-red and boom! Toasty warm! And the blanket Dalish made Ink was comfy. And Sera…she wasn’t going to be a scaredy baby. Sleep. She was going to sleep, and everything was going to be fine. Inky wasn’t going to Fade dream—Dalish and Sera had a big talk about the ins and outs of it, you needed an open connection to the Fade in your subconscious which only happened when either magic got woke up,  _or_ when you had lyrium in your system. Ellie was already magic woke, and she wasn’t big on lyrium, which guaranteed her being Fade free!  
          So! There wasn’t anything to be afraid of! It was Inky. She wasn’t going to let a demon in. She wasn’t going to hurt Sera. And they shared a room for almost a year now, so. Sera was gonna suck it up!  
          She…kind of had a little trouble drifting off.  
          It was dumb! She was safe, she knew that. But she just couldn’t fall asleep. Just kept listenin’ to Inky breathe, cycling between staring at the ceiling, and staring at the sleepy Human girl. Maybe it was just ‘cause she missed her so much, spent an entire week terrified they’d never get to do this again, see each other, sleep next to her best friend. Inky seemed to be sleeping good, kind of like she was wore out. This had to be hard on her, all this shite happening.  
          Lots of shite happening.  
          “Did Nancy make it out safe?” Maggie could be heard asking in the kitchen, sounded like the adults was staying up, Sera could smell coffee, hear them chattin’, just sounded like catching up, light stuff, but everyone got real quiet when Maggie asked that. Nancy?  
          Fleming’s first name, Sera learned it.  
          “She…refused to leave, my love,” David sounded regretful to inform her.  
          “I see,” Maggie sighed wearily, “Has she been found out?”  
          “The Templars came for her Friday afternoon, a scarce twelve hours after you made it out of the city with Ellie,” David, shite, yeah that did sound scary, made Sera break out in a bit of a nervous sweat, hearing that Templars had been rounding up Apostates on their street, felt like Inky dodged an arrow headed straight for her. “She refused to be Circled.”  
          That…didn’t sound good.  
          “How bad has it been?” Thom wanted to know.  
          “Circle’s are filling up, Ansburg already started rebelling, it fell earlier this week, quite literally I think it’s been burned to the ground—that’s what it sounds like, anyway,” David said. “Ostwick sounds like it’ll follow, there’s a great deal of dissent in their ranks. The- the gallows are…full. That started early,” his voice sounded hallow. “I saw to it Miss Fleming didn’t…hang in the street to rot. She had no family, and of course all her students are in the wind, running or captured. I arranged a proper burial at the cemetery a few blocks over. I haven’t said anything to Sera, so I trust Ellie isn’t aware yet, I wanted to let you know first. She can say goodbye whenever er…if we can ever bring her home.”  
          “They hung her in the st-“ Cyril sort of choked on his words, sniffled. Shite.  
          “I was nearly arrested for getting Nancy down, I wish there was more I could do,” David sighed. “I made certain your other clients in the city were able to have their escapes facilitated safely. There are…unfortunately a few others who met a similar fate to Miss Fleming. Different parts of the city, but two more in our neighborhood alone. When we get the all clear that the city is safe to return to, Aaron has promised he’ll make certain there isn’t any…unfortunate sights the girls might see.”  
          “Mom and dad have been quiet,” Glenda said. “But they mentioned him—Charles, the neighborhood boy the Templars caught and hung? I…they don’t like Ellie, didn’t mention her, but it seemed like they were saying they wouldn’t do anything that would risk her meeting a fate like that.”  
          “That boy was fifteen. Maker, did- did he refuse going to the Circle or-“ Thom started.  
          “I don’t know,” David said. “I really don’t.”  
          “Maker help us all. It feels like the world is falling apart,” Maggie said. “I’ve heard just awful things about White Spire*, I have clients who’ve made contact wanting my help to get their children out, they’ve reason to believe the Templars are killing anyone new they bring in.”  
           Sera sniffled softly, tears pricking her eyes as she held the little Apostate next to her just a bit more tightly.  
            _When I first came to live with my papi and Maggie, I was always afraid I was going to do something to get kicked out or someone was going to come and take me away_.  
            _I’d kick anyone’s ass if they tried to take you away,  
_           She hadn’t known Inky was a mage then…but she did now, and the notion still stood. Those assholes would have to string Sera up first if they wanted to hurt Ellie, lock her up, kill her.  
           “We’ll keep our ears to the ground,” Bull promised, “you need us to stick around, we will. Run into trouble, we’ll help. Worst case scenario, we could get you all to Antiva, port here sails directly to Bastion.”  
           “We’ll pray it doesn’t come to that, but thank you,” Maggie said, “we appreciate everything you’ve done for us.”  
           Then, “Mom, have you heard back from Ava? You wrote that Jefferies boy, right?”  
           “I did…and again just this morning. I haven’t heard back,” Maggie said regretfully.  
           “Shit,” Cyril breathed, sighing. “If we don’t hear back soon, a few of us will go looking, check up on her for Ellie-girl. I just pray she’s safe, losing Nancy…Maker, how are we going to tell her?”  
           “Gently, together, and after her birthday,” Maggie listed with certainty. Cripes, yeah, Sera was keeping her mouth shut. Shit, didn’t know Ava from Andraste, but she hoped she was okay.  
           Sera dozed off a bit, was just really starting to fall asleep when the bedroom door cracked open and Thom was there at their bedside again. ‘cept this time it was for,  
           “Hey little loves—you wanna get up and ring in the new year with us?”  
           Ellie let out a little sleepy groan, “Que?”  
           Sera sat straight up, rubbing at her eyes, “Inky! It’s almost First Day!”  
           The Antivan girl popped up at that, gasping excitedly, “Oh my gosh, I forgot!” she wriggled a bit, “Happy almost-First Day papi!”  
           “Happy almost First Day Ellie-girl,” he offered back, smiling as he tossled her curls a big. “Come on baby, you know the drill—set goals, drink coco, and at midnight…you’ll be twelve.”  
           “I’ll be twelve at twelve!” she cheered, calling, “The Iron Bull! Work that into a pun!”  
           Qunari was in the living room, laughing, “I’m on it, Imekari!”

 

* * *

   
          So there’s this superstition right? When things happen, they happen in threes.  
          Thom and Cyril didn’t have to decide between the two of them, who was gonna go check on Ava. Because about half way through eating cake on Ellie’s birthday, someone from the woman’s hometown finally wrote back.  
           _Don’t come. Tantervales out for blood. Everyone’s paranoid. Ava’s dead.  
_          Sera read it over Maggie’s shoulder, and then pulled the Human woman in for a hug so she could cry real quiet against Sera’s shoulder. Day had been pretty good, a little somber, there was this heaviness that never quite left the air because of everything going on, but they definitely weren’t adding this to it.  
          Bull had a contact he had regular meetings with this time of year anyway out that way—Ava lived in a village near Tantervale, and just beyond that was Hasmal, just a scant few miles from the Tevinter boarder, Bull dipped over the line between the Free Marches and the Imperium to make contact with Qun people, once a year, usually around the start of the new year to touch base. He’d verify the claims that Ava was dead, give her a proper burial, check her home for anything Inky might want. Shite, Sera couldn’t imagine…what if Inky was still all on her own in a time like this? She couldn’t  imagine the girl running around scrambling for safety, finding Ava herself, just, shite!  
          It was hard enough as it was—Bull and them left the evening of First Day, and their confirmations came back a week later.  
          So the adults sat Ellie down in the living room, Sera sat right beside her, she- yeah, they gave her the heads up that big emotional things could make Ellie spout wild magic, she got that pretty clear from how she nearly set Lady on fire last year, but…she wasn’t letting Ellie just sit there and have the news that Nancy and Ava were dead, broken to her all on her own. Sera sat, and held Ellie’s hand tight.  
          And found out what Barrier felt like, holy shite! Didn’t hurt or nothing, just startled Sera a bit—she heard Ellie’s heart stutter in her chest for all of a second before she let out this half-scream and started sobbing, whole room got washed with purple light and Sera jumped but stayed put, only moved to wrap her arms around Inky and hug her tight tight tight.  
          That…basically became the daily. Ellie got real quiet, didn’t speak, barely ate, just stared into space most of the time for the rest of the week, alternating laying on one of the adults or Sera. Sera gave her time at the end of the day to um…it embarrassed the littler girl, but she’d usually cry herself to sleep, so Sera gave her the privacy to do that in before slipping into the room and holding her for the last few minutes before she drifted off.  
          One night though, Sera woke up ‘cause she thought she heard Inky choking, the way she did when bile built up in her lungs and she couldn’t breathe—but she was fine, physically at least. Just crying real hard and trying to be quiet about it, pressing her face into her pillow and choking back sobs.  
          “Oh sweets, hey,” Sera offered softly, sympathetic. She pulled the girl closer and brushed her hair back out of her face, cripes! Skin was chilly again, sort of like it had been that day she woke up scared…oh shite, Kirkwall ruddy happened then, what the hell could possibly go wrong now?  
          “I’m sorry,” Ellie sniffled, burying her face against Sera’s shoulder, “I d-didn’t mean to wake you up.”  
          “You have a bad dream Ink?” Sera asked, it was cool, it was fine, Ellie wasn’t going to let something bad in, and there was no way she’d been in the Fade, right?  
          Ellie shook her head ‘no’, “It w-wasn’t bad, not really,” she said, wiping at her eyes, and then she hiccupped a sob. “I miss Ava!”  
          “Awe Inky, I know,” Sera pouted.  
          There was a light rap of knuckles against their door and Tio Jake stuck his head into the room, “Hey sweet girls, I thought I heard some upset. Everything okay?” he asked.  
          “Inky’s sad,” Sera said, rubbing the girl’s arm as she hugged her, rocking her a bit.  
          “Would hot chocolate help make it better?”  
          “No,” Inky said. But,”…it wouldn’t hurt. But I want hugs!”  
          “Okay baby, I think we can do that,” Jake said, grunting a bit as he took Ellie up in his arms, secured her arms around his neck and kept her against his chest as he carried her out to the kitchen, supporting her with one hand while he took Sera’s in his other and pulled her along, raising up her arm and making her twirl before he gently pushed her in the direction of a seat, “okay, let’s see…” she wasn’t sure just how he did it, but Maker bless him, he got hot chocolate brewing on the stove with one hand as he kept Inky secure.  
          “What’s on your mind baby? Just missing Ava, or did something happen?” Jake asked, as he poured just a bit more milk into the pot, stirring it as he swayed side to side, keeping Ink away from the stove top as he worked.  
          Ellie’s chin was quivering and she looked uneasy, looking to Sera, oh,  
          “Hey, I wanna know. I won’t be scared if something magey happened. What’s up sweets?”  
          “When…when Mages die, they pass through the Fade on their way to the Maker or their gods.” Oh shite- Inky wasn’t allowed to die! And she definitely wasn’t allowed to go to the Fade! Never ever! “Ava…um she…I think she’s passed on now, but she tried really hard to stay to see me, and she found me. So we-“ oh…Ellie sobbed a bit, cripes, poor babe, “we talked. She said she wasn’t scared, that um, that I shouldn’t be angry, or let myself get scared enough to let it turn to hate, like the people um…” she sighed, “I’m not dumb, I know Ava and Tia Nancy didn’t just so happen to ‘meet their time’ around the same time. I know people are killing each other over Kirkwall. So yeah, I’m angry and scared, Ava just wanted to make sure I didn’t let losing her and Tia Nancy make me vengeful or hateful. I gotta be good.”  
          “Well, you’re all set there bug,” Jake said, “you’re a good kid baby. As long as you keep your compassion, your love—you’ll be just fine. As you keep on being you, Ava’ll be proud of you,” he promised, smiling as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head, “we all will. Same goes for you lovey,” he said to Sera.  
          "Me?" Sera asked. The frig' she do?  
          "You've been an amazing big sister, you're a good daughter, pretty great niece, you're definitely in my top two favorite nieces," he teased with a wink, but in all seriousness, "I'm proud I get to be your Tio."  
          "Gracias Tio Jakey," Inky said, squeezing the man tight.  
          "You're definitely in my top two favorite Tios," Sera said, "The second Tio is also you."  
          Guy chuckled at that, as he set Ellie down in Sera's lap, Sera keeping the whole 'hug' thing going, he dropped a kiss to Sera's hair and set about pouring their cocoa.  
          But Inky was right, yeah cocoa didn't hurt anything, but it didn't help, didn't keep hard things from happening.  
          See, things come in threes.  
          Ava.  
          Nancy.  
          Then…  
          Sera'd gotten a letter or seven from Angela, Leo and everyone too wrote checking up on her and everyone, and she always got blushy, a little embarrassed when one of the adults got all smiley and handed off a letter from her 'little girlfriend', so Sera started being the one to get the mail that came through the postal system. She'd take Sammy on a walk, Inky usually in tow, walks with Samson were just about the only reason they could get the poor thing to leave the house, get some sunlight on her skin, breathe some fresh air, and once they came back, Sera would check the mailbox. Shuffle through it and pick out anything for her, pass off anything to Inky that was addressed to her. She got little letters from her friends at school, they'd be starting back up in a few weeks...maybe. School was kind of up in the air, everything was so crazy, so many people missing or Circled or in prison or dead, Professors in the house got missives like crazy from Markham University, constant updates on whether or not they were going to be able to open their doors for spring semester. Sera didn't want to return to the city without her family, and she could hear Maggie and David talking late into the night, every night, about what they were going to do. One or both of them were going to take a sabbatical...they didn't want to separate, but they wanted at least one of them with Ellie especially if they were going to have to move friggin' countries, and the other would return to Markham with Sera but...she was feeling very 'all or nothing' about it. She could stand to skip a semester, she'd gotten solid grades, all A's except for friggin' a B in Music Theroy--a very generous B, Martin for sure bumped her up out of the kindness of his heart 'cause Sera wasn't a straight up music major or anything, he got it was just a fluff course she had to take and didn't let it do serious damage to her GPA, so if she needed to, yeah, her scholarship would be waiting for her if she took a semester off. Lady couldn't do anything to mess with that, right? Sera was emancipated. And that was for permanent unless there was some reason to think Sera couldn't provide for herself so...she'd just figure something else out, Maggie would think of something.  
          Maybe Maggie would need to think of something, like, soon.

_Sera Rainier or Resident.  
_ _From the Estate of Lady Emmauld  
_

          "Sera?" Inky asked as the Elf girl stopped in her tracks as they headed for the house. "What's wrong?"  
          "N- nothing sweets I uh…just got something Maggie should look at I think," it was probably nothing. She couldn't have gotten unemancipated right? Not just 'poof' all of a sudden?  
          "Sissy you're shaking," Ellie pouted a bit as she wrapped an arm around Sera's waist, "Come on, you need abuelita?" she asked as she ushered Sera along toward the house, "Abuelita!"  
          Maggie pushed open the front door, a little alarmed, "What's wrong sweetheart?" and then she looked to Sera, "What happened?"  
          Sera held out the letter in a shaky hand, frick, this- this couldn't be bad, could it? It was Lady, so of course it had to be bad. She couldn't've pulled some last ditch effort to mess this all up for Sera, could she? It'd been almost a freaking year!  
          "Everything's going to be alright," Maggie promised as she waved the girls in, slipping a nail under the envelope seal and popping it open, though she went very still when she read its contents. "Ahh. Sera, there wasn't anything else with this?" Sera shook her head. "Alright, David sweetheart," Maggie called, and her husband popped his head out of the spare bedroom they'd been staying in, "Would you be a dear and arrange for our contacts in Hercinia to meet with a courier from Lady Emmauld's estate? Its something that needs to have a signature, he'll have my stamp on hand to sign for it and can pass it along to us here."  
          "What is it?" Sera asked. Lady was sending her something?  
          Maggie turned to face her, smiling real soft as she rested a hand on Sera's shoulder, "Sweetheart why don't you sit down a minute. I'm going to put on some tea, and we'll have a chat."  
          A…chat?  
          Sera had a decent idea what about, when Maggie called the dad-squad and Abeulo in. Inky seemed to get the drift too, she climbed into Sera's lap and sat there, legs dangling at Sera's hips, her head against her shoulder as she hugged the older girl and waited.  
          "Sera…Lady Emmauld has passed away."  
          …"Like…"  
          "A maid went to wake her a few days ago, for a First Day event she was hosting, and Lady Emmauld didn't rouse. She apparently passed in her sleep," Maggie cleared her throat.   
          "So…what that…that's an invitation to her funeral or something? What's coming from Hercinia or whatever?" Sera asked kind of dully, staring at the table top. Lady…was dead?   
          "No er, her funeral hasn't been arranged yet. That...sweetheart she never updated her will to remove you from her Estate. She didn't have anyone else to leave everything to so…as of seven months ago, her sole heir has been Sera Rainier."  
          Well she wasn't sure what to even begin doing with that. Literally, at all. What did you do with an estate? What did that even mean everything belonged to Sera? She didn't want anything from Lady when she was alive, she definitely didn't want anything now that she was…er, dead. Lady…changed her name in her will?  
          …probably just to make sure for certain Sera was the one landed with all her shite. Wasn't anyone else to leave it to, yeah, and if she could only ever darken Sera's door in death, she was sure as hell gonna do it in the most incon-fucking-venient, stressful way possible.  
          Sera was in charge of her freaking funeral! Sera!  
          She hoped they freaking had the bitch on ice or cripes that was gonna be a smell.  
          "I- I don't want- I can't- I don't want anything from-" she wasn't sure how to really talk anymore, not right this minute.  
          "Oh sweetheart, shhh, don't worry about it," Cyril said, reaching out and taking Sera's hand in his, "it's all gonna be okay."  
          "I'll handle everything, anything you need me to," Maggie promised, "I am your lawyer after all."  
          "I don't want it, any of it. Can't I...can't I just say 'no thanks' and be done with it?"  
           "You could sign over her Estate to the government*," Maggie nodded. "Or...well honey don't make any rash decisions right now. While I'm sure Lady Emmauld meant this somehow in meanness...it could greatly benefit your future. Let's just wait and see what comes via courier, and I'll help you do whatever it is you want to do once you've weighed all your options."  
           "I don't even know what to do with a ruddy- I-" what the hell did you do with an Estate?! Sera didn't want that freaking house! Not the one in the Free Marches and definitely never ever again in Denerim! Hated that place. She didn't ever want to set foot there ever again! And what- how was she supposed to throw a funeral?  
         "We're here to help you honey, you won't be doing this alone. And I'm sure if Lady Emmauld had any good sense at all, she's already made arrangements outlined in her will for her own," Maggie assured her.  
          "Like she already planned everything herself? You can do that?"  
          "Certainly sweetheart, your Abeulo and myself, we've already handled all the details for ourselves," Maggie said. Frick, no more dying! People just needed to chill out with that for a bit! "No one will have to do any planning, it's all taken care of. If Lady Emmauld hasn't done the same, we'll handle it."  
          Sera nodded, couldn't really do the talking thing anymore she just- there was basically a stone in her throat now and she was crying. Sera wasn't even sure why she was  _sad_ she  _hated_ Lady! That bitch had done nothing but make her whole life miserable since they met!  
          Inky invited Sera to come 'be sad' with her in the bathtub. 'cause apparently that was the best place to be sad. Kind of was, you could cry all you wanted and no one could see, 'cept Ellie but she wasn't looking, she was soakin' and crying too, so, it wasn't embarrassing. And you were already wet, in a bunch of water, you could wash your face real quick and make it look like you was never crying, or blame it on the bathwater. And it was relaxing, Inky kept the tub toasty for what felt like hours.  
         Lady was dead. Sera never had to worry about her ever again. So why did that feel so devastating? Time was she dreamed she'd find Lady dead one day herself, dance around that bitch's body. But that's not what this felt like.  
         Most of the adults were out, Maggie and David went on a walk, sounded like they were going to see to something for this whole mess, get in contact with someone who could get Sera whatever official documents was coming. Thom and Cyril had gone out to pick up groceries for dinner, Sera had promised to go with Cyril later but um, that didn't feel much on now, so. Jake an d Glenda were there still though, sounded like she was doing something in the kitchen, and Sera could hear Jake out back of the house, s'where he painted a lot of the time when the weather permitted.  
          "Hey cutie pies," Glenda greeted when Sera and Ink pulled themselves up out of the bath and came out to the living room.  
          "Hola Tia, voy a escribir Russel," Ellie chirped, before disappearing into the bedroom. Oh yeah, Russel wrote her today, that was sweet.  
          "Go on baby," Glenda encouraged, "Oh, honey," she said to Sera, sounded a little alarmed, "you're dripping wet-  
_Seda! You're dripping all over the rug! It's worth more than you, go dry off this instant! I swear, that girl!  
_          "-come sit by the fire sweetheart, dry off and warm up. You sound a little stuffy, it wouldn't do to have you sick. I just made coffee, would you like some?" Glenda offered warmly. Then, "Oh…baby come here."  
          Sera didn't move, hadn't really seen the woman do so either, just one second Glenda was at the sink, the next she was hugging Sera. Frick, she was wet, getting Glenda's dress damp and- shite little dots was on the woman's shoulder now. She thought she'd cried herself out, but apparently not. "I don't know why I'm- I hated her, she- she was nothing but _horrible_ to me, I don't know why I'm sad," Sera mumbled miserably into her shoulder.  
          “Come on," Glenda said, leading Sera to the fireplace, sitting down in the chair right by the fire and pulling Sera into her lap, rubbing circles on her back. "Has Cyril ever mentioned our grandfather? On our father's side."  
          "Your dad's dad?" Glenda nodded, "No."  
          "Well, I was always 'soft' for a boy. That man used to make my life a living hell over my being different. I was never tough enough, too much like my mother. When I was younger we all just thought I was merely more timid than Cyril. Being told you're doing everything wrong can instill in you the need to never do anything," oh…yeah, Sera got that. "It wasn't until I was maybe your age that I fully realized I wasn't timid, not in the slightest. When left to my own devices I had opinions, strong ones, I could be downright fierce even. Everything felt all the more wrong when I did it because I was denying who I really was. Cyril of course was immediately supportive, and my parents were as well, surprisingly. To an extent they'd always known I was different, but the answer to why I was different wasn't one that occurred to them, they'd never heard of such a thing before. Neither had I, it felt like I was experiencing something no one else could possibly understand, it wasn't until I 'came out' in a public sense in my twenties that I started to meet other people just like me. But everything finally felt right to me when I came out with my family, all the insecurities that originated in myself suddenly made sense, didn't quite get to me as badly once I started accepting who I was in my private life. My grandfather however…well, his disdain for me seemed to multiply several fold. He made something of a point of making an example of me, making my life miserable in any way he could.  Told my father that if he couldn't set me straight he should be rid of me one way or the other, not let me bring shame to the family.”  
          “Shite,” Sera breathed.  
          “When he died…I think I cried more than he’d ever sent me to tears in his living days,” Glenda said.  
          “Really?”  
          She nodded. “Growing up…there was the level where he was still my grandfather, and I did love him, wanted him to love me. Even though he did nothing but make me feel worthless and miserable, as long as he was still alive there was always the chance he could change. Might come to accept me, that someday we could have the sort of relationship that you have with your abeulos. Once he was gone, so was that possibility. It’s hard to live with ‘should be’s, and sometimes it feels like it’s even harder to live with ‘could have been’s.”  
          Sera nodded slowly. “You…you wasn’t mourning the grandpa you lost, you were sad because of the grandpa you knew you’d never have.”  
          Glenda sniffled a bit, brushing Sera’s hair back out of her face, “Yeah baby. Does that help any?”  
          Sera nodded, even as she started crying harder, just sobbing against someone else who showed her more love and compassion in a week than Lady had shown her her whole life.  
          Lady should have taken her in because it was the right thing to do.  
          Lady should have loved her.  
          Lady should have made her feel loved and accepted.  
          Lady should have guided and mentored, not gilded and tormented.  
          And even though every second that woman drew breath was one she could have used to find a way to get Sera back under her thumb…it had also been another second she could have used to…to become the sort of mother she liked people to think she was.  
          “Th-thanks. ‘m sorry, about your grandda? But I’m glad papa was cool. Papi…papi too, right?” Sera wondered. Thom always seemed cool with Leo.  
          “Oh, Thom was fine once he got it—he wasn’t in the know when I was closeted in my youth, but when I began openly living as a woman, Cyril was so used to calling me his sister in private that it was easy for him to do so in public, he didn’t give any lead-up to it, just started calling me ‘Glenda’ talking about his sister. And Thom honest to the Maker took that to mean I’d married myself—that ‘Glen’ met some woman named ‘Glenda’ and married her. Cyril never realized the misunderstanding until after they finally got around to seeing me once their military careers were up and they’d settled down and adopted Ellie, Cyril invited me to their wedding. Of course once Thom finally met me and had a good long look at Jake trying to decipher just why Glen’s ‘wife’ was claiming someone very clearly not Glen to be her husband, it clicked for him.”  
          “Seriously?!” Sera giggled a bit. What a total dunce!  
          “Uh-huh, Thom was so embarrassed—he’d been prepared to ask me to stand up with them, as one of their ‘best men’, but he figured being Cyril’s ‘best woman’ would work.”  
          Sera laughed a little, laughing and crying, how did that even make sense? “You’re definitely the best aunt,” Sera said, worrying her lip a bit, frick, she was still tearing up, but now it was mostly ‘cause, “Thanks for um…for loving Inky and me the same.”  
          “Oh honey of course. How could I not? My amazing, wonderful nieces! The Maker blessed us, that’s for certain.”  
          Sera wasn’t sure how blessed she felt having to leave.  
          Things came—Lady’s will and pish. Deeds and contracts and blah blah blah. Woman died in the Free Marches, which made sense—Ferelden, Denerim got too cold for the woman in the wintertime so they’d always spent their winters in the Free Marches, more north than Markham, up closer to the border where they shared the mildest form of winter you could get this far south without living in perpetual summer like in northern Antiva and Tevinter.  
         Ferelden was dangerous right now, everywhere was really, but…well Sera had to make certain Lady got transported to Ferelden to be laid to rest, Maggie helped her make the arrangements for double funerals to be held—one in the Free Marches before her casket was sent, her in it, on down to Ferelden for the people who knew her in Denerim, to be laid to rest in the Emmauld family plot. And while the main house could just deal without her—there was no way she was going back to Denerim—Maggie and them, they packed up, and together the Rainier family were gonna go take care of Lady’s Winter Free Marches estate, clean it out, settle whatever needed done and they’d see the woman’s body off.  
          Sera wasn’t sure how well Maggie and Inky would travel—Maggie was a city-woman through and through, but she’d forgotten that Ellie’d always traveled like this, with even less on her more often than not when she was littler. With a full pack of necessities on her back, Russel under her arm and her hand in Sera’s? She was pretty well thriving as they ‘roughed it’ traveling to Starkhaven. Took them about a full day—leaving Wycome with warm hugs from their Tia and Tio in the morning, and making it into Starkhaven’s cold stone walls just after noon the following day.  
          Guards checked them all over, Inky got real shaky and shy, ducking behind Sera a bit as she held her hand more tightly, shit.  
          “You—Sera Rainier? Your papers are pretty crisp for a fourteen year old,” the guardsman examined her identification with scrutinay. Oh piss, yeah, if you was an Apostate right now…new papers might be something you’d be quick to get. Shit.  
          “They’re recently updated,” Maggie spoke up, “She was emancipated from her guardian last year, and for personal reasons their relationship ending led her to the desire to legally change her name—I’ve all the paperwork right here to prove as much.”  
          “Huh,” the guy looked over Sera’s identification a bit more, and held out his hand for Maggie, so the woman handed over the leather folder from her satchel that had all their important documents in it, birth certifiicats, proof of residencey n’ pish. “Oh, formerly Emmauld huh? I am sorry for your loss miss,” he looked to Sera and sighed a bit, “I’m sorry—this will just take a moment and you can all be on your way.”  
          And then he waved over a Templar, one of many guarding the entrance to the city, and Sera pulled Inky more behind her, Thom taking a few steps back to put a hand on the littler girl’s shoulder, and the other on Sera’s while Cyril side stepped to put himself between them.  
          “What’s the meaning of this?” Thom asked.  
          “Routine testing—your girl’s not declared a Mage on her documentation but she’s around that age when such things can crop up in our youth, unfortunately,” the Templar said, raising his hand a bit waving back toward himself with his fingers to motion Sera forward, “Your er, friend Sera here, will need to come with us.”  
          “Our daughter will go no where with you for any such testing—routine or otherwise,” Cyril snapped.  
          “Daughter?” the Templar questioned. “Well sir, then you and your family are free to turn back around and leave peacefully, but we can’t just let in someone whose papers are flagged as suspicious without testing for Apostacy. You understand.”  
          All the adults started talking over one another, outraged and insulted, and Ellie was shaking like a freaking leaf, Sera could hear her crying softly, breath getting all hitchy and clogged and-  
          “Alright,” Sera said. “Test me, its fine. I’ve got nothing to hide so there’s nothing to worry about—my family can go on ahead, right? And I’ll just meet them when we’re done.”  
          “Assuming all goes well, certainly. If you’re discovered to be magical…well that will certainly complicate things for you and your family. If you’ve truly nothing to hide, excellent—if not, I suggest you come clean now.”  
           “Clean enough as I am, let’s go,” Sera shrugged, for casualness and to get Thom’s hand off her shoulder and she gave Ink’s hand a squeeze before letting go and then giving her arm to the Templar. Inky let out a little squeak that almost sounded like she’d started to object but Thom was fast, knelt and took the girl up and put her mouth against his shoulder, cradling the crown of her head with his hand as he shushed her and Cyril’s hand was on Sera’s other arm.  
          “Sera-“ he objected but,  
          “Of course she cannot go alone,” Maggie spoke up. “My granddaughter here is still underage, and age aside I am her legal council. I’ll not let you take her off on her own. You may take me in for testing as well if you feel you must, but we stay together—a single ounce of impropriety towards this girl and I’ll have your jobs.”  
          “Right this way then, ma’am,” the Templar said.  
          They got taken to the nearest, er, jail Sera supposed it was. Seemed like a full enough house already between regular crime and um…well there was some people with burns on the backs of their hands—a single angry red fading into pale white dot on the back of their hand, a burn from Lyrium that meant they…hadn’t tested negative for magic, Sera supposed. Shite.  
          She wasn’t a mage though. She wasn’t, so, it was all good.  
          It was friggin weirdy. But all good. Mostly.  
          Maggie went first, she insisted—wanted Sera to be prepared and not scared. Got her in hand cuffs, a set on each wrist they used to cuff her to this chair that was bolted down to the floor, just in case they tested a mage in hiding, their test could superpower someone going along real cool to take the opportunity to escape once testing started. Cause the test was Lyrium. They administered a shot of Chantry-grade Lyrium* for Maggie to drink and then this weirdy Chantry Mother stepped up, did some kind of strange exercise with a pendent on a chain and…hypnotized Maggie or something. One minute she was awake and the next, bam! Fast asleep, and there were three Templars standing by, all of them raised their hands and focused before declaring her,  
          “Non-magical.”  
          Only thing that happened to Maggie was the Lyrium made her a bit punch drunk, giggly. She didn’t enter the Fade, the Templars didn’t sense magic reacting to the Lyrium at all so, she was free to go. Just about did—giggled and turned right back around and cleared her throat, trying to refocus because she was _not_ leaving until she could do so with Sera.  
          Friggin’ handcuffs was ouch—heavy and cold and pinchy, they put them on so tight, shite she was relieved they hadn’t thought Ellie’s papers was suspect, that she wasn’t here in chains about to get her cover blown at the absolute worst time in possibly all of history to get outed as a Mage. She’d have been so scared. Sera was petrified and she wasn’t a freaking apostate!  
           “Alright miss, open your mouth please,” woman Templar said, took over for the Templar that led them in, for propriety sake, Sera supposed, Maggie was a little looped but still watching them like a hawk. Sera opened up and drank down the icy-hot bitter shot as quick as she could swallow. Shite!  
          Crap this…was this what being high was like? She wasn’t sure, never done ‘high’ before. Tipsy occasionally, but never high. felt like all her hairs was standing on end, and her blood just felt…warm, like boiling hot in her veins, and- and _itchy_ like- blood was wet, wasn’t it? How could it itch?  
          “Follow the pendant with your eyes my dear,” the Mother said, took Sera a sec to shake herself and remember what she was doing. Testing. Magic testing, right. She did as she was told, listened to the Mother’s voice but she couldn’t really focus on it, there was this ringing in her ears, she just barely heard the instruction to fall asleep so she shut her eyes and kept them closed until,  
          “Non-,” and  
          "Magical,” overlapped from the three Templars around her.  
          “Sir Jean and I concur she’s non-magical,” the woman Templar spoke up.  
          Third Templar, not the one that brought them in said, “I sensed some Fade activity but perhaps I was mistaken.”  
          They double checked it sounded like, and that time all three agreed…  
          “Non-magical,” the Templar changed his opinion.  
          “You will wake up and resume your business as normal, in three…two…one,” the Mother instructed, same as she had Maggie so Sera opened her eyes. Shite, she…she wasn’t feeling so good.  
          “’m’I done?” she asked.  
          “Yes miss, sorry for any inconvenience,” the Templar that brought them in said as he unlocked the handcuffs, “I’ll see you and your grandmother returned to your family.”  
          “I’ll have you know this was excep- exceed-“ Maggie worked to figure out what she was tryin to say, “ex-somethingly inconvenience…”and then when she thought about it, “ing.” Close enough. “Come on Sera, my sweet girl, lets go.”  
          They went alright, clumbsy going. Templar ended up giving Maggie one arm and Sera the other, wrapping around her shoulder so support her, shite, moving just made her feel caught between not moving fast enough to match the world around her, and the need to _stop_ moving because it was making her sick. Maggie hummed a bit, swaying slightly. Seriously what the frick even was Lyrium?!  
          Cyril’s, “Sera-“ was right in unison with Thom’s,  
          “Mother-“ and David’s,  
          “Darling?” and Ellie’s,  
          “Sissy!” the girl’d been crying and she wiped furiously at her eyes, “Are you okay? Did they hurt you? Wh- why are you holding your tummy—what did you do to my sister?!” frick, Inky was getting right mouthy with a Templar!  
          "They gave us Lyrium,” Maggie announced as the Templar let go of her arm and she went stumbling into David, giggling up a storm as she pressed an indexfinger clumsily against David’s lips, “Shhhhhhhhhh, don’t tell David I’m _tipsy!”  
_          “He certainly won’t hear it from me,” David assured as he wrapped his arms around her to support her against him, hold her upright, pressed a kiss to the top of her head.  
          Thom and Cyril were already to Sera’s side, Cyril pressing the back of his hand to Sera’s cheek and then against her forehead, “Shit, sweetheart you’re burning up,” he breathed, Thom was swooping Sera up, shite, Sera slapped her hand over her mouth because she was pretty sure her stomach _moved_ like shot up into her throat and then zipped right down into her knees somehow, and back again. “What the hell kind of Lyrium did you giver her?!”  
          “Chantry approved, I assure you, she and her grandmother got a dose from the same vial.”  
          Well Maggie was snoring against David’s chest and Sera was kind of blacking out so they might be experiencing the same thing?  
          She wasn’t sure what happened next, she was freezing cold but it was warm against Thom’s chest, and she was dizzy and her blood was itchy and she was just _out_. There was some yelling, and Thom held her secure as they moved, just a blur of voices around her.  
          _“-sure she’s still breathing?”  
__“Where can I lay her down?”  
__“Get her settled, I- I don’t know what kind of reaction this is, we need a different Healer, someone familiar with Lyrium use.”  
_          " _Is Sera going to be okay?”_ oh Inky.  
          “m’okay,” took a minute, but Sera willed her mouth to work.  
          “Da’len?”  
          What?  
          Sera’s eyes felt heavy, like she built muscle just opening them. She was…in a kind-of familiar place? Downstairs sitting room, Lady always had fancy tea parties and the like in here. Sera’d never been allowed in. But there was this huge ‘fainting couch’ and Sera was pretty sure fainting was what she’d done on the way here, so. It worked. Oh…maybe it’d taken her more than a minute to answer Inky—the girl was in the room but she was out cold at Sera’s feet. Why was she down there? Oh. Sera had…stuff all over her. Someone took her jacket off, belt too it felt like, and her shirt had been unbuttoned part way, sleeves and pant legs rolled up and Lady would throw an actual fit if she were here. Sera's exposed skin was covered in some kind of mud? Itchy and dry though, brown but turning this pale blue color. Wait, who the frig called her da'len?  
          This weird baldy git. Elf. He was sitting on the floor at her side, criss-cross applesauce. "Uhh, who're you?" Sera asked "Where's everyone?"  
          The guy opened his mouth to speak but footsteps thunked into the room, Thom. Oh Lady'd kill him for wearing his boots in the house so, more power to him. He looked right relieved when he looked at Sera, "Oh thank the Maker you're awake," he breathed as he came and sat on the edge of the couch, taking hold of Sera's hand even though it was kind of gross right now, covered in half-dried gunky mud stuff. "How're you feeling sweetheart?"  
          "Confused, but better. I don't feel sick anymore."  
          "Good, good," Thom said, patting her hand and nodding, not taking his eyes off her like he was still taking it in that she was okay, frig, had he been that scared? "I'm gonna go get your papa, let the abuelos know you're awake." He gave her hand a squeeze before getting up and leaving the room, boots thumping up the stairs.  
          "Where's Sammy?" Sera asked, she could hear him, hadn't seen him though.  
          "Samson?" the Elf asked, and when Sera nodded, he inclined his head to the left, oh. She had to sit up a bit, crook her head to the side to see Samson was sitting still near the foot of the couch. Huh. Real still, he was panting contentedly, seemed happy enough but usually he couldn't sit still like that unless he was laying with someone and he was a good few feet away from everyone.  
          Sera snorted, "Hey there weirdy, what's up with you?"  
          "Ahh, he did endeavor to lie with you," the Elf said, "but he's a very affectionate creature and it would be dangerous for him to ingest the clay, so I instructed him to sit and be still."  
          "You some kind of dog whisperer or something?" Sera teased.  
          Seemed to amuse the guy enough, lips twitched a bit, eyes alight as he said, "Oh notoriously," and then he did offer a small smile, "I am Solas."  
          "You're uhh, a healer?" Sera supposed.  
          "Not quite. Your family needed a Healer familiar with Lyrium ingestion. While there are no Circle Healers at present, an ally of mine works as a Healer here in Starkhaven, when she heard the details of your ailment, she sent for me. While I'm not a healer, I'm rather knowledgeable in regard to Elveh- Elf magic, and Lyrium reactions."  
          "'m not a mage!" Sera snapped at him.  
          Inky stirred at her tone, shite, the littler girl blinked awake, rubbing at her eyes a bit, "Sis?"  
          "Hey sweets," Sera said, crap, "I wasn't speakin' mean about Mages or nothing, I was just telling baldy here I'm not one."  
          "Sera, calling names is rude," Inky pouted as she sat up and stretched before crawling to sit beside Sera's chest, "Mister Solas is nice, even though he said I can't cuddle with you!" reaching out an index finger to poke Sera on the cheek, giggling a bit, "The clay's all tickly to my magic."  
          "Fingers!" Sera covered. Shite! That just sounded ruddy weird! "M-magic fingers at er, playing the piano. Ink's a prodigy."  
          "Ahh, so you're a magical prodigy as well as a musical one da'len?" Solas asked Ellie amused, taking the girl's hand in his and wiping off the bit of gunk that'd gotten on her finger from Sera's face with the hem of his tunic.  
          "Que? Piano? Oh! Like in Chantry? No, its very pretty though," Ellie said, "Mister Solas knows I'm a mage."  
          "What?!" Sera shrieked.  
          "Calm yourself," Solas instructed, raising his hand which friggin' started glowing purple, the barest flicker of lightning zipping across his palm. Oh. Duh, no wonder he knew magic stuff. "her secret is safe with me. Da'len," he addressed Ellie, "do not touch the clay, it is drawing the Lyrium out of your sister's body but as you have no Lyrium in your own system it would pull on your magic, that is why it reacts that way, 'tickles', if you were exposed for too long it would drain your magic to the point you would be sent comatose until it replenished." Oh shite! Sera scooted over a bit and looked to make sure she wasn't touching Inky at all. "She's fine as it stands," Solas assured. "It would take continuous contact, perhaps a bit more of the stuff to be truly damaging, but she is small and young. Er, you are Human, Ellie?"  
          "Uh-huh!"  
          "Fascinating."  
          Oi, "Why do you even have this shite if its dangerous to mages?!" Sera wanted to know! Humans was all over the place! This was weirdy stuff she'd never heard of before.  
          Guy was staring at Inky, but he distractedly turned his attention to Sera, "It has its uses emma'asha," he assured, turning over his other arm to show her his inner forearm, this stain on his tunic sleeve, just below his elbow, "how else do you think I was permitted to enter this city? There is a bias of sorts it seems, all our people are being tested at the gate regardless of age or authenticity of their papers. I was tested just as you were, but as I preemptively applied a great deal of this clay in key places on my person, I could not enter the Fade and my magic went undetected. Now, as to your earlier concern: I was not accusing you of being a mage. In point of fact, that is what caused you to be so ill. The Lyrium attempted to have a magical reaction inside a space it found no woken magic in."  
          "Maggie ain't a mage and she just got loopy."  
          "That is because she is a Human who…lacks all potential for magic. There are…theories," Solas stressed the word, though it looked like he didn't much care for it, "that once, all of our people had magic. That even to this day, while not all Elves are mages, they have the potential to be as much, magic lies dormant, in need of nourishment and nurturing to spark to life."  
          Ink's eyes went real wide at that, "Like, choosing to be a mage?"  
          "In theory, I suppose yes, if proper training were brought to bear any Elf could turn their potential for magic into mage status proficiency."  
          "I love my magic, lots and lots," Ellie said, "But I don't think…if I'd had a choice? Being a mage is hard, has always put everyone I love in danger."  
          "In a world where the majority both lack and fear magic, I suppose it must," Solas acknowledged. "Perhaps there will be a better world someday. Where magic is common place once more and none have reason to fear it because they've lived their lives understanding it."  
          "All Elves used to have magic?" Inky asked, "So the world used to be like that?"  
          Solas looked almost startled that the girl was interested. "Ahh, well. If such myths are true, yes. I believe it with great certainty, myself. The world before held magic for all who lived in it, unfortunately there were a chosen few imbued with a great deal too much, they assumed power over everyone else, abused that power, killed…any who stood in their way, no life was precious to them if it kept them from total control."  
          "…that don't sound like magic utopia," Sera said, "That just sounds like Elfy-Tevinter."  
          "I suppose it would," Solas agreed drily. "If those in power could have been reined in, be made accountable, however, their power could not be abused. They could be made to build a world for their people to flourish in." he shook himself, "I apologize da'lens, I digress. Elena, would you be so kind as to get some water please? Sera will need to rehydrate, and I admit I am parched myself." Oh, Sera's mouth was dry, whole body felt sort of wrung out, like she was tired and dehydrated.  
          "Oh, si! Of course!" Inky agreed, twisting around, facing Sera while she scooted backwards so her legs went over the edge of the couch. Though she went to the Elf man first instead of the kitchen, her hands on his shoulders as she pressed a kiss to his cheek, "Mwah! Gracias for helping my sissy and mi abuelita!"  
          Bloke's cheeks and ears turned bright pink, looked startled at the affection, "Ahh, it was nothing da'len," he cleared his throat and Inky smiled real big before turning around and dashing off in, huh, right direction of the Kitchen. Either she  got the lay of the land while Sera was out or...well, her magic was a pretty good finder. "Are all Human children like her?" Solas wondered, at the confused look Sera gave him, he said, "I admittedly have never met a Human child, I grew up in rather a sheltered community."  
          "…uhhh, yeah? They are. All the ones I know anyway," Sera snorted, "if her friend Russel was here? You'd be getting smooches left right and center, kid's a Dwarf though."  
          His turn to look confused. "I thought Russel was a toy."  
          "So did papis, they was pretty devastated when they realized the Russel Inky has a crush on is a living breathing boy."  
          "Papis, that is…is she speaking another language? Elena calls them that, it is a term for father, correct?"  
          "Si," Sera snorted, "It's Antivan? Ink's from Antiva. I uh…was too, I guess. When I was little."  
          "So these Humans, they've taken you in? They have referred to you as their, er, daughter?"  
          "Well yeah. I um, used to live with the woman that owned this house, but uh, she was bad. Mean, hated me pretty much. Rainiers saved me from her, took me in, helped me get into school."  
          "The Human school system would not permit you?" Solas wondered.  
          "Permitted me just fine," Sera said, "'m fifteen, so I'm a little young for College is all. I attend Markham University, 's'where we all met. Lady wasn't going to let me go, but once I blabbed to Maggie how bad things were here, she helped me get emancipated, gave me a place to live, became my family."  
          "And they're aware Elena is magical, but have not placed her in a Circle?"  
          "Yup."  
          "It must be stressful for them, their child's magic waking at such a time as this."  
          "Ink's magic's been woke since she was like, five or somethin'."  
          "I thought in these times, magic did not waken until pubescence?"  
          Sera shrugged. "Beats me, 'm not the Maker, I didn't put Ellie together."  
          There was more boots on the stairs and then Cyril and Thom were back, Cyril apologizing, "Sorry, sorry, I was checking on Maggie when Thom came to get me," he said as he came rushing into the room with Thom on his heels, Cyril kneeling alongside Solas, taking Sera's hand, "Hey button, how you feeling?"  
          "Itchy, when can I take this shite off? No offense," she was right glad it helped or whatever, "but I feel better and I'd like to stop wearing Ellie repellent."  
          "Oh, of course, it's only er, you might feel weak upon standing, it would not be wise to bathe alone, you may need assistance with the process."  
          "Papas can help with that," they wouldn't be weirdy about it. They literally shared one bathroom all this time, accidents happened, Sera'd seen waaaaay too much of their business, friggin' most men had some big ugly business goin' on downstairs cripes! So everyone had seen pretty much everyone else's pish. Sera felt safe with 'em.  
          Solas nodded. Thom got his arms up under Sera's back and knees. Sera told them where the nearest bathroom was and he set her straight in the tub while Cyril went and got a basin bowl full of water and a wash rag. Tub didn't need water in it, it was just the best place for her to sit back and get this gunk wiped off of her. Sounded like Inky was back from getting water for her and Solas, Sera could hear her in the other room asking where Sera went, and then a few seconds later the girl was popping into the bathroom with a glass of water. Papa was busy degunking Sera's arm with a warm washcloth, so Ellie handed it off to papi, and the Human man carefully helped Sera take a few drinks from it before setting it aside.  
          "Does Abuelita need water?" Ellie wondered.  
          "You know what baby, I think she'd really appreciate you bringing her some, thanks," Cyril said, and Ellie whirled about on one leg to rush off to do that.  
          "Is Maggie okay?" Sera asked. Shite, she'd been looped out before, she hadn't gotten sick or anything had she?  
          "She'll be just fine," Cyril said, sort of way he did when he was trying to stay positive about something bleak.  
          Which had Sera's stomach dropping. "What's wrong?"  
          "Mother um…she's been sober nearly twenty years now," Thom said softly, shrugging, "First time she's been high or drunk in a long time."  
          Oh  _shit_. "I- I didn't even think about it-" friggin' Lyrium didn't do pish to Mages 'cept make 'em magical-er, but it was addictive to non-mages, even Templars got high the first couple times in training! Shite!   
          "She doesn't regret it honey, it's just hard. She wasn't going to let them do something to you that wasn't safe, she just hates that even though she did her best to make sure their testing wouldn't hurt you, you still got so sick, she's uhh, feeling pretty useless, we all are, that we couldn't protect you."  
          "We're so sorry," Cyril said. "Maker's breath, I was so scared. Your fever wouldn't come down and you were unconscious but kept throwing up, and nothing I was doing was helping. Bless that Solas."  
          Sera's chin was quivering, Maggie worked so hard with her sobriety, she even still went to meetings! "Maggie's gonna be okay right? M-maybe- would that clay pish help her any? Get it out of her system or whatever, or would it hurt her?" didn't seem to hurt Thom or Cyril any.  
          "Solas provided her with some after he got you covered, it pulled the rest of it out of her system, sobered her up real fast," Thom assured.  
          Sera could hear Inky humming as she came back downstairs, "Mister Solas! Are you hungry? I'm getting snacks for mi abeulos-" oh cripes, Ellie sucked in a gasp and followed up with a little shriek as she missed a step it sounded like, but, "Oh! Gracias! Mas serannas!"  
          "Certainly, da'len, you should be more careful," Solas chuckled, oh whew, he must've caught her. "Sera taught you Elv- er our language?"  
          Sera snorted, raising her voice just a bit, "She taught me," and at her papis confused looks she pointed to her ears and they nodded.  
          "You taught Sera?"  
          "Si! I knew lots of Elves coming up. You have to learn Trade to talk to us, so why shouldn't we learn Dalish to talk to you?" then, "What is it you keep almost saying? Is it a secret or something--it's okay if it is, I won't pry!"  
          Solas took a breath, considered it. "Well, there was a time when my people were referred to as Elvehnan. Before the term Dalish," word sort of dripped from his lips with disdain.  
          "Ohhh," Ellie breathed, "Elvehnan--vehnan means heart, right? Gosh, that's so pretty! Like that you're all each others heart!"  
          "Indeed."  
          "I like it, that's sad it doesn't seem like its said much. Do Elvehnan still call each other that? They should, Humans shouldn't be the bosses of what you're called."  
          "I agree. Unfortunately the term seems to have fallen out of favor, even in more traditional circles."  
          Voices drifted off, they'd headed for the kitchen. Made their way back though, Sera was all cleaned up and Thom helped her out of the bathroom just as they were returning, Solas was carrying a tray carefully balanced on one hand while the other hand was held by Inky's.  
          "Ahh, Sera," Solas greeted, "we prepared broth if you'd care to attempt stomaching it."  
          "Thanks. You taking some stuff up to Maggie?" Sera asked, and when Ink nodded Sera looked to Thom, "Would you mind um, do you think she'd be okay seeing me?"  
          "Of course baby girl," Thom assured, holding Sera more securely as he headed for the stairs, "I think that'd cheer her right up." Felt right bad though, Thom lugging her all the way upstairs, for a creaky old bitch Lady liked her stair cases. She had a room for herself on the first floor, and then there was bedrooms on the third and fourth floor and then there was the attic. Sera always spent as much time as she could in the attic, Lady could sometimes hoof it up a few flights of stairs but the attic was always out of reach. It was weird being back here, having free range in this house.  
          Room was pretty dark, a guest room, looked different from what Sera remembered but Lady had a habit of redecorating every few years. Everything used to be this beigy color that was popular, now it was grey, the frig was up with boring colors being popular? Maggie was curled up next to David, looked like they'd fallen asleep. Woman was in her sleep clothes, her hair was loose and wet from bathing, she had dried clay on her neck, up under her jaw. David's eyes were closed but his arm was under Maggie's shoulders and his hand was playing with a lock of her hair, and Maggie's eyes opened once people started filing into the room.  
          "Sera," oh shite, the woman's chin crinkled as tears sprang into eyes, "Oh sweetheart, you're alright, oh come here my babies," Maggie invited, sitting up and wiping at her eyes before opening her arms up and waving them over. Thom deposited Sera on the bed and she crawled into the space beside Maggie, wrapping her arms around the woman's neck to hug her and take up all the room around where she was still clay-y, didn't want Ink accidentally touching the stuff. Ellie was there just a second after her, climbing in the woman's lap and snuggling against her stomach.  
          "I'm so sorry," Sera's voice escaped her as a squeak.  
          "Shhh, no honey, don't be. Oh my love, I'm just so glad you're okay. I'm sorry, I've never dealt with Templars in a legal capacity I didn't know what else to do to keep you safe." She looked to the Elf man, "Solas is it? Thank you, Maker guard you for saving my Sera."  
          "It was my pleasure to be of assistance to her, and you Miss Rainier."  
          "Oh!" Inky chirped, popping up to look to Solas, "Mister Solas, are you Andrasten? The Maker would protect and love you even if you aren't, but I'd add you to my Sera prayers if you were more comfortable with your gods."  
          "I do not subscribe to any religious sects, actually. I do know there to be a Maker, His will is not something I'm wholly concerned with." Though, "Who do you pray to, from the Elf pantheon?"  
          "Elgar'nan, 'cause he's the papi, and supposed to protect Elves." Solas raised a hand to cover his mouth as it twitched with a smile, looked almost like he wanted to laugh at the thought of Ink praying to him for Solas. "Oh! And Mythal!" Inky smiled, "'cause she's like everyone's mami! She's supposed to watch over them and keep them safe and make sure they're happy, just like mi Abuelita does for all of us! She's my favorite, her statue's really pretty and she seems really nice, my magic always feels happy when I pray to her."  
          "Ahh," the man said, clearing his throat then, he looked more moved at that prospect, "Yes, she was beautiful, I don't know that the statues do her justice," he cleared his throat, "according to mythos, of course. You…feel something when you pray to her?"  
          "Uh-huh! I try praying to Elgar'nan out of respect, but when I pray to Mythal," Inky shrugged, "I dunno, it always feels like she's really listening. I like her, I think she's a good mami to everyone, she takes great care of Sera! I got really really scared when it seemed like papis couldn't help, and I asked the Maker to help, but I also asked Mythal, and then papa found miss Lydia and she has Mythal's vallaslin, and then you came!"  
          "I…suppose that much is true," Solas said, seemed to be thinking about it and nodded. "Perhaps she did."   
          "Oh, my boy," Maggie said to Solas, guy looked a bit bemused at being called 'boy', "you look done in. You're free to stay as long as you need, perhaps you should get some rest?"  
          "Oh, please stay!" Inky enthused, "Papi is gonna make pancakes in the morning!"  
          "I should not-" Solas started, and shite maybe he was done-in, he looked pretty haggard, staring at Ellie like…dunno, almost like she scared him or something, and then his expression softened, "I…suppose I could stay the evening. If it would not be too much trouble."  
          "There's plenty of room," Sera said, "at least three more bedrooms on this floor, three upstairs. One downstairs but um," Lady died in her sleep, "you don't wanna use that one, trust me."  
          Inky nodded. "Magic felt yucky in that room when we got here, I told papis to put you down in the sitting room."  
          "You've a very healthy relationship with your magic da'len," Solas complimented, "it is unlike…it is how it should be, but it is unlike any other I've seen since I woke…" he sort of stumbled over the sentence but got to, "woke up my own magic," sort of dipped his head with a little shrug like 'close enough'.  
          "Magic's always been with me, looking out for me and keeping me safe," Ellie shrugged.  
          "Come on mate," Cyril said, slinging and arm over Solas's shoulders, "I'll show you your pick of rooms, where you can wash up if you'd like. Are you hungry?"  
          He wasn't apparently. No one really was, Sera and Maggie sipped at their broth and everyone just sort of stayed put, only major moving was when the woman got up to clean off the clay from her neck and then she got herself an armful of grand daughters, had Sera and Ellie lay against her and David, and Cyril and Thom stretched out at the foot of the bed, and Sammy, huh, he'd followed Solas, seemed to like the guy. That's how they slept, Sera didn't even think about it until she woke up surrounded by everyone, it was kind of nice…  
          Nice enough she fell back asleep, woke up with just Maggie and David, older couple was awake, just laying with her.  
          "There's our girl!" David said when she opened her eyes, "How are you feeling my dear?"  
          "All better, thanks. You're okay right?"  
          "Yes yes, all the excitement at least gave us a good nights sleep," he said, "I believe everyone is downstairs making breakfast."  
          Oh cripes, David helped Maggie stand, pressed a kiss to her temple, and then he turned around and friggin scooped Sera up! Like to carry downstairs! "Abuelo-"  
          "You've been ill child, I was worried sick about you and couldn't do a thing to help, indulge me," he insisted.  
          Everyone was in the kitchen, Solas looked bewildered, Inky was full breakfast boss-mode, up on a stool at the counter, showing him how to make pancake batter with…well, there was no such thing as too many chocolate chips in Ellie's world, and the guy was getting introduced to that idea as Ellie helped him, her hand over his as they stirred the thick, clumpy mix.  
          "Sissy!" Ellie greeted, bouncing a bit in place. "I'm making your favorite!"  
          Sera snorted, "I see that."  
          "Solas, whats your favorite pancakes?"  
          "I've never consumed the dish before," Solas admitted, "It is a breakfast dessert?"  
          "Supposed to be a meal, but Ellie-girl does tend to take an emphasis on the 'cake' aspect," Thom chortled, whisking up eggs in a bowl. "Making omelettes," he winked to Sera, "lots of peppers and onions and Ram." Those was the best!  
          "You've never had pancakes?!" Ellie asked like that was the most insane thing she'd ever heard. "Do you like chocolate, or do you perfer fruit? Or both?"  
          "I enjoy apples, blueberries, any fruit really," Solas shrugged.  
          "Oh! Abuelita and Sera and me we picked the yummiest blueberries on our way to Starkhaven, you can try chocolate pancakes, and blueberry ones! And papi will make you an omelette! Ummmm, and I think abuelo's making bacon!"  
           David chuckled, he'd just set Sera down, he wasn't in the middle of making anything but he pressed a kiss to the back of Sera's head and said, "I suppose I am! How do you like your bacon, Solas?"  
          "H-however you make it is fine," Solas supposed, "Truly, you needn't go through such trouble for me."  
          "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! It fuels you up for the day ahead!" Ellie said, "And lunch is also important! And dinner! And snack time!"  
          "Snack time?"  
          "Which snack time's most important?" Sera asked, amused, guy looked overwhelmed enough as it was.  
          "All of them!" Ellie insisted, and at Solas's confusion, "There's ten o'clock, and then two o'clock and," she got up on tip toes to whisper in the Elf man's ear, "there's bathtime cookies, they're the best!"  
          "We swear, we don't know where she puts it all," Cyril laughed, tosseling Ellie's hair a bit.  
          "In my mouth! Then it goes to my belly!" Ellie said, like 'duh' he should know that, then she shrugged, "Then it goes to my butt I guess. Maybe that's why I got to eat so much, it keeps coming _out!"  
_          Sera slapped her hands over her mouth to keep from laughing, poor Maggie choked on the coffee she just dared to take a sip of, and Thom just about lost it, literally he dropped the bowl on the counter by the stove and brought his arm up to bury his mouth against the inside of his elbow, shoulders shaking like mad.  
          Solas's eyes got real big in his head, and he let out this half a laugh, that turned into something like giggling, and then he was just full blown laughing, hard enough there were tears in his eyes by the time he was done, "Oh, da'len, my goodness."  
          "What?" Inky asked, "It does!"  
          "I suppose so," Solas agreed. "Perhaps…" he cleared his throat, it was kind of clogged from how hard he'd laughed, "you seem to always be in contact with your magic, using it on a level, and you are a child, constantly growing both physically and magically. You likely require such a great caloric intake."  
          "Her magic burns calories and finds my glasses," Maggie smiled, shaking her head, "I'm officially jealous."  
          "It is an envious thing," Solas supposed, "Elena…I wonder if perhaps you would- I do not wish to come across malicious, my intent is purely scientific, clinical. Would you allow me to see your magic?"  
          …like cast a spell or somethin'? That didn't sound weirdy.  
          Oh, but maybe it was. Or could be, whatever. Ellie nodded, "Sure!" she agreed, holding up her hand, "I've always done this with barrier, is that okay?"  
          "Certainly, whatever you feel most proficient in would suit best," Solas said, holding up his hand too, and then both their palms started to glow with purple light before they touched hands, Ink's whole hand was just barely big enough to fill his palm. Seemed like a magic handshake or somethin'. After a minute, the glowing stopped, and Ink rubbed at her hand a bit,  
          "Ouchy, I'm sorry, did my magic do something mean to yours?" she wondered, and the Elf man looked aghast at that, he'd taken Inky's hand, the one that seemed sore, in both of his and massaged at her palm with his thumbs.  
          "I apologize, da'len, no, your magic caused no insult. I thought using a common arena of magic to communicate would help, and it seemed to, but Human and Elvehnan magics are dissimilar in many respects, I should have expected as much, truly I'm sorry, I'm surprised they did not conflict more violently."  
          "That's okay!" Inky said, smiling as she shrugged, "They didn't conflict too bad. Maybe they still like each other, even though they're different. We're different and I like you lots!"  
          "You are kind, da'len," Solas said quietly. Guy was real quiet after that, seemed to be politely making his way through their meal, eating a little bit of everything they piled on his plate but he didn't eat much and then, Sera supposed he must have thought it decent time to excuse himself. "I am pleased to have helped you, but if Sera and Mrs. Rainier are well, I should really be on my way."  
          "You're certain dear?" Maggie asked, "You're free to stay however long you need, the gate is dangerous."  
          "I will be fine, I've already stayed longer than I should have," Solas said.  
          Thom wiped his mouth off with a napkin he placed beside his plate before rising, "If you're certain, I'll see you safely wherever you need to go if you're staying in town, or to the gate if you're heading out of the city."  
          "I will be fine on my own-"  
          "It's dangerous out there for Apostates," Thom said. "At least if you run into trouble you'd have friends who know and can help get you out. Cyril, love," he looked to papa.  
          "Oh!" Cyril snapped his fingers, jumping up and rushing out of the room, coming back with a coin purse he extended to Solas, "Here. I've never encountered clay like that, I hope it didn't set you back too much, this covers it, yeah?"  
          "It- I do not require repayment or escorting, you're too kind, truly."  
          "Nonsense," Thom said, patting Solas on the shoulder, "you saved my baby girl."  
          Solas sort of blanched at that…looked to Sera, and then to Ellie, jaw clenching, "I assure you I've done no such thing," he said, almost a whisper before he met Thom's eye, shrugging, "Sera would have been fine, my treatment just got her there sooner."  
          The guy did let Thom walk him to the gate, leaving Lady's house together once he gathered all his stuff, hoisted his pack onto his back, frig, it seemed heavy. They saw them out, watched as they walked away.  
          "Gracias Mister Solas! Adios! Be safe!" Ellie called, waving. The Elf turned and inclined his head to her in acknowledgment as he kept walking. "Huh. He seemed sad. I hope he's okay. Is he all by himself do you think?" Inky asked Sera.  
          Sera shrugged. "Dunno Ink. I'm sure he's got someone." Everyone had someone, right?  
          "I hope so."  
          "Hey Inky, he didn't eat all his blueberry pancakes, and they looked pretty good…" Sera started.  
          Inky gasped real excited, "First one to the breakfast table gets dibs!" she decided, before whipping around and rushing through the house. Sera let her go on head, following behind once she was sure the girl would beat her back.  
          Didn't matter anyway. Inky still shared.

* * *

 

          It was the middle of the night. Sera and Ellie had claimed one of the old guest bedrooms, she didn't have much interest in sleeping in her old one, everyone got real quiet when she showed them around earlier and got to her old room. It was big, like all the rooms in Lady's house, but sparse, bare walls, a desk with no drawers, a wardrobe with no doors, and her bed. Maids had made the bed every day and they always felt around under the mattress when they tucked the sheets and blankets in, she used to keep a private journal that became not so private after the maids found it, turned it over to Lady, got a nice bonus for it. Bed was too small for more than one person anyway. So, they found a guest room, one of the nicer ones that had a fireplace in it, made an evening of being toasty and reading before they fell asleep. Sera woke up cause they left the fire going a little, while it kept Inky proper warm, Sera  _might_ got a snorin' problem, her throat dried right up!  
          "Ser'?" Inky mumbled out sleepily, stirring as Sera climbed out of bed.  
          "Shhh, just gettin' some water sweets. You okay? Need anything?"  
          Littler girl hummed a bit in her sleep, already relaxed again but, "Bring back snacks."  
          Sera snorted. Seriously? "Any preference?"  
          "You'll know what to get, it'll just feel right."  
          Sera shook her head, pressing a little kiss to the girl's temple, she was out like a light before Sera even left the room.  
          She was serious about her snacks tho, so, definitely bringing a little something back.  
          Light was on in the kitchen, Sera could hear someone awake in there, the scratch of pen against parchment, and then a little  _pop_ like they cracked their back while stretching, letting out a weary sigh.  
          "Maggie?" Sera asked as she entered the kitchen. The woman was in her sleep clothes, glasses just holding their place at the tip of her nose, seated at the counter, lots of paperwork spread out across the large counter top.  
          "Hey Sera baby, what're you doing up?" Maggie asked.  
          "Water for me, snack for Ellie. You okay?" Sera asked, gentle. She'd been real quiet all day, seemed tired earlier so Sera was surprised she was still up, worried really.  
          "Oh I'm fine," Maggie assured, offering a small smile as she waved dismissively. "Just getting some work done."  
          Work had a lot of  _Emmaulds_ in it, it looked like, "Should I help?" she asked as she went to the cold chest, fished out a pitcher of water they'd stored there earlier, and Maggie smiled her thanks when Sera set the pitcher aside and got out two glasses, shaking one like a nonverbal offer to get her some too.  
          As far as help went though, "Oh no sweetheart, not unless you want to. Lady Emmauld left clear instructions, its just a matter of carrying them out. I just finished up the order for announcements to be sent out to those she wished to be in attendance at her funerals, settled everything for the memorial service here and the burial in Ferelden. I was just working on the submission for her obituary, apparently she wants it in all major news papers, including Orlais."  
          "Sounds like Lady," Sera supposed. "Thanks for doing all of this, I um, I really appreciate it. I know it's my responsibility."  
          "Oh, honey, don't even worry about it. You don't owe that woman anything, if I can spare you the hassle, I'm glad to do it. Besides, I've not been taking on any work seeing as we're on 'vacation', outside the realm of assisting my apostate clients in securing their safety. Everyone's safe so, I haven't much work to do, so this," Maggie shrugged, "gives me something to occupy my time."  
          Sera sat on a stool across the counter from Maggie, scooting a glass of water in her direction as she took a sip of her own, sighing with a bit of satisfaction 'cause her mouth didn't feel like a friggin' sand trap anymore, "I mean, scary as everything is right now, we are sort of on vacation really. You should try to enjoy the time off."  
          "I…I should really keep busy if I can," and at Sera's confused look Maggie blushed, seemed a little embarrassed. "It…work has always helped, keep my mind busy, when I first started truly tackling my sobriety."  
          Oh frig. Shit, Sera reached across the counter top to take Maggie's hand. "I'm so sorry," Sera said, "Abuelita, if I'd known they were going to use Lyrium on us I- well I dunno. I just wish you hadn't gotten caught up in it. I only went along with it so they'd leave us alone, stop poking around Inky, I never meant for you to get involved-"  
          "Sera, honey, I wasn't going to let them just take you off without anyone going with you, and I was afraid if we sent one of the boys along they'd seperate you based on gender or some such nonsense, take any opportunity to get you alone if they could. I understood the risks when they offered up Lyrium, and I don't regret making certain you were safe. So…I'll struggle for a bit, and that's okay. Honey i've been sober for twenty years, and I still struggle," she smiled, offering humorously, "You think all this is shit is going down and I don't want a drink?"  
          Sera smiled, giggling a bit. "Yeah I guess not. Still…you need anything, or feel like you're going to slip up or something, I dunno, if I can help, I want to."  
          Maggie offered her a warm smile, squeezing her hand a bit, "Thank you baby. My sobriety isn't your responsibility, it's mine, but I do appreciate you."  
          "So, anything I can help you with in all this?" Sera gestured to the paperwork all around.  
          "I'll need your signature on a few things," Maggie said, picking out a few sheets of parchment she handed to Sera, "You don't have to do anything right now, you can head on back to bed, but read these over when you're up for it, and if you have any questions, just let me know."  
          Sera started looking it over now, sipping at her water as she did her best trudging through legal jargon. It was mostly just approval for things, contacts with flower shops, organists, the Chantry here in Starkhaven where there'd be a service, and then the one in Denerim for the full on funeral, the casket people cripes it was expensive to put someone in a friggin' box, and then the cemetery in Denerim.  
          "What about um," she wriggled the pen she took up to sign everything, gesturing vaguely to just encompass the house, "all this?" she asked Maggie.  
          Woman seemed thoughtful for a moment before she asked, "Well, what would you like to do with it?"  
          "Dunno, I mean I don't want it," Sera said, "None of her crap, or her houses. Can I sell them or something? Or give 'em over to the state like you mentioned."  
          "You could," Maggie nodded, "I would recommend having an estate sale for the contents of the home you don't want, is there anything in Denerim you can think of that you'd like to keep?" Sera shook her head, "Alright then. And then yes, you could list the homes for sale, put whatever money you get into your future, if you can't think of anything else you'd like to do with them."  
          "I mean…we can stay here however long we need if, you know, it'd be safe for Inky. Or we could use to money to find a place wherever we'd need to go if we can't stay in Markham anymore."  
          "Sweetheart," Maggie breathed, shaking her head, "Oh I love your heart, but honey we're supposed to take care of you. It's incredibly grown up of you to want to pitch in, but leave it up to us to provide for our family. Markham is cooling off, we're hoping once the initial panic is over we'll be able to return without risk of putting Ellie in danger, and I've several back up plans, connections in Markham that can get her out fast and safe should anything happen. No baby, if you make a decision about your estate, it should be for your benefit, something you want to do with it. You don't have to make any big decisions right now, these houses can sit empty until you feel confident in a decision."  
          Yeah but that just made Sera feel squirmy. There was loads of people who didn't have a place, now she had two just lying around, three 'cause Lady had a friggin' lake house she almost never used, purely for appearances sake. It was dumb!  
          Oh…  
          "Maggie, what could I do with these houses? I mean like, can I use them for not living in?"  
          "You mean find another use for them?" Maggie checked, and Sera nodded. "Of course, I can think of any number of things, was there something you had in mind?"  
          Sera wasn't sure. Well, kind of.  
          People was dying left right and center in all this mess, and that was on top of the usual 'people die' thing. There was a growing number of displaced, parentless kids, and no where for them to go. And then there was this sort of…idea, she wasn't sure if it was crazy or not.  
          But Maggie didn't make her feel like it was, once she said it out loud.  
          "Baby girl, if you're serious about this…I think we can make that happen."  
          "You'll help? It could be, you know, a good distraction."  
          "What's a good 'straction?" Inky mumbled sleepily as she wandered into the kitchen, rubbing sleep from her eyes as they adjusted to the light. "Did you say you were getting snacks or did I dream that?" she gasped, "Can I see the future now?"  
          "Dunno sweets, you already kind of can," Sera supposed, "I said I'd bring you back somethin', just haven't done the 'back' part yet," she said, patting her lap and then reaching down to help pull the girl up to sit there, such a warm baby! Her hair still smelled pretty from their bath, soft as Sera buried her face against it, hugging her close. Sera loved it, wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. Ellie was looking kind of…dunno, just got a bit thinner in her cheeks like she was losing her baby fat, eating them out of house and home if they didn't have a four, five-ish income household, sooo, she might just be in for a growth spurt. Which was good, kids grew up, but…Sera just wanted her to stay little Inky! Sweet and lovey and looking up to her. Which was a little selfish, she liked having a little sister that thought she hung the moon. What if she got hit with the puberty stick and didn't like Sera so much anymore?  
          "That's okay," Inky said, leaning back against her, snuggling a bit, as she excitedly decided, "we can do the going back part together! Whats you and Abuelita doing sissy?"  
          "Well mija, Sera and I were just discussing what to do with her new real estate," Maggie said, smiling the way she did when she was excited and proud, cripes!  
          "What'cha doing with it?" Inky asked, tilting her head back to look up at her.  
          "…big houses, lots of rooms, big kitchens, big yards?" Sera listed, "Kind of thinking about opening them up to people that need 'em."  
          "Like an orphanage?" Ellie asked.  
          "Yeah, like an orphanage," Sera said.  
          Oof! She got an elbow in her ribs as Inky wriggled around until she was sitting with her knees on Sera's thighs, wrapping her arms around Sera's neck and pressing a kiss to her cheek, so, kind of worth it, especially 'cause,  
          "Sissy that's _amazing!"_ another big cheek kiss, "I'm so proud of you!"  
          Okay, so…maybe there wasn't much to worry about Inky growing up. Something told her she'd always be sweet.  
          "We should celebrate! With _cookies!"_  
          …or at the very least, always be into sweets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dalish:  
> Da'len=child  
> Da'vehnan=a child form of 'vehnan' which means 'my heart', an endearment for tiny ones  
> Emm'asha=my girl  
> Elvehnan=the OG term for Dalish, before they helped Humans claim the Dales. In Solas's time, before Humanity and all the jazz existed, way back before he made the Veil/Fade, Elves were 'Elvehnan' and they all had magic and immortality. In TSTT I have that Solas was born of the last generation in his time allowed to procreate ('cause when you're immortal, people build up pretty fast, population needs just a smidgen of control) so he's never met anyone younger than him, until he wakes up in future Thedas.
> 
> *"You get alienage or worse for that" is a direct line of dialog from Sera talking about her history, how she got taken in by Lady Emmauld. It implies that Sera wasn't in an alienage, that she got caught stealing and was going to end up placed in one or some kind of kid-prison or something. Since I've started writing this fic a lot of the resources I use for canon fact-checking have updated, there used to be precious little on Sera's backstory and now it says she was in an alienage when she was small, so it's a little confusing given how she talks about her past in the game. So, for fic purposes I stuck with the old way I understood it in TSTT.  
> *Another fun thing about updates--Lady Emmauld didn't used to have a first name on the Wiki page, now she does! It's Taraline. But before that update, in TSTT, I needed a name for Ellie's pet mabari, and Secret_Life_of_Fireflies suggested Anya, and when I was thinking on how the name would come up, my brain went with 'Sera joking that Ellie name her dog after Lady Emmauld, cause Lady was a bitch'. So, Lady Anya!  
> *Halla's produce milk that the Dalish drink and cook in! Didn't know that, now I do, so now you do too!  
> *Marehis is a character based on the Elf thats there when you wake up in Haven. In TSTT she's an agent of Leliana's, a body guard for the young Inquisitor. Here, she's at the age where she just started working small jobs for the Nightingales and by the Conclave she works directly with Leliana.  
> *Dragon age II and the Mage Rebellion/Anders dicking out happens in 9:37, I have it happening in Haring (December), just before the holidays, because Anders lives to make those big cash-money moves/to keep everyone's age consistent across fics.  
> *Nobody f*cks with Antiva, because the Crows are scary and will cut them. Literally Antiva has like, the most lax militant system, because the Crows make up for it in terrifying fashion.  
> *Grim doesn't talk, so I have in TSTT he's nonverbal, and uses Sign Language!  
> *When the rebellion gets going, White Spire is one of the worst. In DA:I Cole talks about his time there a little bit, how Templars were just bringing in Apostates like mad and killing basically all of the Mages, torturing them or starving them like they did with OG Cole, so once his body is 'Spirit-fied' Cole goes around killing mages before they can be tortured to death, mercy killings he repents for in the future. Anyway, White Spire's a hell hole, and the world goes crazy after Kirkwall!  
> *In canon, when Lady Emmauld dies, Sera signs her estate over to the government and runs off, joins the Friends, etc.  
> *After Fade dreaming when magic wakes up, Mages need to take Lyrium in order to enter the Fade in their sleep. The test for magic is something I made up, I'm not certain if there is a canon magic test, so...there ya go! Sera's reaction is based on how in DA:I Solas continually drops hints that Sera *could* be a mage, that she might be magical. Since all Elvehnan used to be mages, the idea is that all Elves *can* be mages, and they're all born with different levels of magical access, if they nurture their magic, they can wake it up and become Mages, enter the Fade, all that jazz. Thus Sera's reaction to Lyrium because it's having a mixed reaction--in nonmagical people, Lyrium is purely an addictive substance. In Mages, they don't so much get high as they replenish their mana and have a heightened connection to the Fade, so Lyrium in Sera is like "I don't like this, I'm confused". The headcanon I have is that Sera could ultimately become a Mage, and that's a route explored in TSTT.
> 
> Also, I didn't mark this I don't think, but all the cities and towns mentioned in this chapter are canon. Wycome is where Vivienne is originally from (She's Rivani, her parents are at least, and they were traveling merchants, had her, and it seems like they settled down in Wycome). In TSTT I loosely imply that they have a diner in Wycome, and planned a little tiny scene there with this Fic that ultimately got cut. Hercinia is a canon town, and is fun fact: super violent with Raider activity. 
> 
> Okay! That's Chapter 4--Next up is the final wrap up chapter which will cover meeting Krem, and a few little initial plot points for the start of DA:I with this timeline.


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